Every American citizen has a record that shows in detail information about that individual. Records can contain any sort of information whether it is financial records, medical records, education, etc. When one is of age and decides to apply for a job, many employers ask for an individual’s record to see if they have been apart of any criminal activities. It is quite common for employers to conduct background checks when being interested in hiring someone. People who have a criminal record have the option to either seal it or expunge it. Sealing a record does not make the record non-existing, but shields the accessibility of the record from the public, unless accessed under court order. On the other hand, the expungment of a criminal record means the record is completely obliterated as if the crime had never been committed. Depending on the circumstances of the crime committed, an ex-felon may deserve a second chance, however the employer obtains the right to know whom he or she is hiring on behalf of their own protection and the protection of the other clients and co-workers.
Expungement, the “procedure for erasing or setting aside convictions of offenders” (Franklin, Johnson 740) although existing for some time, was not largely present – especially in adult convictions – until the late 1950s. The 1956 National Conference on Parole in Washington D.C. is credited with the idea of expungement of adult criminal records. “In practice today expungement procedures vary but general conviction and related criminal records concerning the convict are collected, sealed, segregated, open only to limited inspection, obliterated, or actually physically destroyed"(Franklin and Johnsen 742). The establishment of expunging a criminal record wa...
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...eaning that the government is disregarding criminals' records and allowing them to be back in the society with their previous offenses being erased.
The dishonesty of expungement affects society because it prevents people to put their believes and attitudes towards what they think of criminals reentering society. When criminals lie about having a record, there is no longer the chance of the community learning how to accept criminals and give hem a second chance. These arguments have been around ever since the early beginning of expungement.
Another argument against expungement is for research purposes and minimizing knowledge about crime for the public to be aware of. This means "Not only is the public less able to evaluate the criminal-justice system, but sociologists and criminologists are less able to study the origin and correction of criminal behavior." (769)
The Punishment Imperative, a book based on the transition from a time when punishment was thought to be necessarily harsh to a time where reform in the prion system is needed, explains the reasons why the grand social experiment of severe punishment did not work. The authors of the book, Todd R. Clear and Natasha A. Frost, strongly argue that the previous mindset of harsh punishment has been replaced due to political shifts, firsthand evidence, and spending issues within the government. Clear and Frost successfully assert their argument throughout the book using quantitative and qualitative information spanning from government policies to the reintegration of previous convicts into society.
As some criminologists have debated, the methods and approaches to crime control have failed miserably. They are of the opinion that the criminal justice system fails in achieving its aims in rehabilitating criminal offenders. For example, a report made in the U.K claimed that 58 per cent of the prisoners released in 1997 were convicted of another crime (SEU, 2000). Some argue that it seems for the criminal justice system there is only one answer to crime control, a prison sentence. Nevertheless, some question how accurate this method is for some crimes in society. That is to say, that for certain crimes, taking the consumption of marijuana as an example, a prison sentence is not the solution, rehabilitating individuals should be the main priority and in certain cases if not the only
... 2 -. Copyright 2006 by Northwestern University, School of Law. Hull, Elizabeth. The Disenfranchisement of Ex-Felons.
The topic of felon disenfranchisement has become a highly contested topic as of late. The current Presidential Administration in what would appear to be a hollow declaration and political posturing has recently directed Attorney General Eric Holder to decree the racially motivated and archaic Jim Crow driven practice be restructured or more likely abolished. And in what would appear as the trump card in an already racially sensitive society Atty. Gen Eric Holder states in his address to the Georgetown University Law Center on criminal justice reform that “although well over a century has passed since post-Reconstruction states used these measures to strip African Americans of their most fundamental rights, the impact of felony disenfranchisement on modern communities of color remains both disproportionate and unacceptable. Throughout America, 2.2 million black citizens – or nearly one in 13 African-American adults – are banned from voting because of these laws. In three states – Florida, Kentucky, and Virginia – that ratio climbs to one in five” (Eric H. Holder, 2014)
Furthermore, a potential convicted individual with history of conviction may be a bigger target of police “tunnel vision.” Because police already view them as deviant and this misconception allow the police officers to reinforce their negative presumption and see them as primary suspects. Hence, the law enforcement system is corrupted and individuals are quickly labelled based on their beliefs and values.
There are certain instances in which you can seal your criminal records so they can't be viewed by outside sources including employers. This makes it easier to get a job when they're doing background checks. There are many benefits to sealing your record. In some states, a record can be expunged, but not in New York. The only option for New York residents is to get their record sealed.
In most states ex-felons are not allowed to vote. This takes away a large portion of the voting population because of how many ex-felons there are right now and the many more that will be in the future. Ex-felons may also have a very hard time finding a job or a place to live. Legally landlords are allowed to deny an ex-felon. In Carbondale Illinois rental properties owners “Home Rentals” does background checks to make sure that none of their potential renters are felons. If they are felons Home Rentals claims that they will deny them the privilege of living in one of their properties. Ex-felons may also have a hard time finding jobs. Not many employers are willing to employ ex-felons for the fear of more crime or less commitment. Though denying these ex-felons jobs will not help the economy, only giving them jobs can help that.
DELIBERATING CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: A WAY OUT OF GET TOUGH JUSTICE? Criminology & Public Policy, 5(1), 37-43. Retrieved November 23, 2010, from Criminal Justice Periodicals. (Document ID: 1016637721).
Although this right is considered fundamental, restrictions have been placed on this right. The main restriction is placed on persons convicted of a felony conviction, all felonies, not just infamous ones. Today on Election Day, as Americans wait in line to cast their vote, over 4.65 million people are denied this most fundamental democratic right because of a past or present felony conviction. It is true that some felons can make bad judgments that are provocative and rebellious and the foundation to further jeopardy. In fact, statistics show the number of times prisoners had been arrested was the best predictor of whether they would commit more crimes after being released and how quickly they would return to their criminal ways....
Many observers have drawn a simple correlation between these two trends. Putting more offenders in prison caused the reduction in crime. The Sentencing project has just completed a study that examines this issue in great detail and concludes that any such correlation is ambiguous at best. In examining the relationship between incarceration and crime in the 1990s the picture is complicated by the seven year period just prior to this, 1984-91. In this period, incarceration also rose substantially, at a rate of 65%. Yet crime rates increased during this time as well, by 17% nationally. Thus we see a continuous rise in incarceration for fourteen years, during which crime rose for seven years, then declined for seven years. This does not suggest that incarceration had no impact on crime, but any such connection is clearly influenced by other factors. A comparison with other nations is instructive in this rega...
We are All Criminals was founder by Emily Baxter who’s aim was to change the law and get a second chance for her clients with criminal history. She said that “one in four people in the United States have a criminal record and four in four have a criminal history” because of that many citizens have lost the privilege to obtain a job, government housing, getting into schools and voting, ect. It is hard for people with criminal record to get their life back and whereby others committed the same crime are walking freely and doing what they want. Emily mentioned that all of us have committed a crime as some point in life which we were never caught. For example, speeding on high way or on a regular road, taking office supplies from work, texting
The United States criminal justice system is an ever-changing system that is based on the opinions and ideas of the public. Many of the policies today were established in direct response to polarizing events and generational shifts in ideology. In order to maintain public safety and punish those who break these laws, law enforcement officers arrest offenders and a judge or a group of the law offender’s peers judge their innocence. If found guilty, these individuals are sentenced for a predetermined amount of time in prison and are eventually, evaluated for early release through probation. While on probation, the individual is reintegrated into their community, with restrict limitations that are established for safety. In theory, this system
While other countries use different methods of incarceration-deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution-the United States uses the prison system of rehabilitation. This system of rehabilitation treats every prisoner as an equal that is meant to get the exact...
More than 600,000 prisoners are released into the main population of the United States every year. Of that 600,000, 30 percent end up back behind bars within six months of their release, and 70 percent end up returning to jail within three years (Reisig, 409). Upon release, many criminals find that life on the outside is harder on them than it was when they were convicted, sentenced, and locked away. People who know them may become just as prejudiced as the interviewers and landlords who deny them the chance to earn a living or a place to stay. Through the continued use of labels like criminal, thug, crook, and felon, many released offenders feel ostracized and isolated. Their friends and families may turn their backs on them, taking away the few things they have left...
The Classical School of Criminology generally refers to the work of social contract and utilitarian philosophers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham during the enlightenment in the 18th century. The contributions of these philosophers regarding punishment still influence modern corrections today. The Classical School of Criminology advocated for better methods of punishment and the reform of criminal behaviour. The belief was that for a criminal justice system to be effective, punishment must be certain, swift and in proportion to the crime committed. The focus was on the crime itself and not the individual criminal (Cullen & Wilcox, 2010). This essay will look at the key principles of the Classical School of Criminology, in particular