Expungement?

Last week Councilwoman Kathy McBride held an expungement seminar at her constitutent office on Warren Street.  Not a bad idea.  In fact this is an issue with which I have had moral debates with my conscience.  Being asked on an employment application if one has ever been arrested or convicted (if yes, please explain) can be an immediate killer.  I doubt anyone reads the explanation.  So perhaps the problem could be solved by asking, "Have you ever been arrested and/or convicted of a first/second crime?"  Those are serious crimes- murder, arson, robbery, etc.  Then there are piddling crimes - 2rd and 4th degree - like contempt of court.  All of these can make trouble in the future.

When I was working, my caseload was pretrial interevention welfare fraud AKA Theft by Deception.  An interesting crime because rich, educated people lie to interenal revenue while poor, ignorant people lie to social services.  Same crime, really.  But, for the most part these are not dangerous people and are basically, very honest. 

Two of my clients faced this problem.  Both co-operated fully with the PTI program; in fact both were cut loose early because they did co-operate.  One tried to get a job in the school lunch program ladling out soup to kids who probably would not even say, "thank you."   She was denied because of her, "criminal background."  The next was a woman who got a job as a maid at the hotel (remember the Marriott?).  And she was a great maid; she did her job, everyone  liked her, etc.  BUT when the background check came back, she was fired.  The hotel lawyer pointed out that since she had a passkey to the rooms, and a history of, "theft," if anything turned up missing, the hotel could be sued."  She was a liability.  Both these women deserved better - and that's coming from a Goldwater Republican.

Obviously some people have to be restricted - no one wants an embezzler handling the books or an arsonist working as a firefighter - you get the picture. 

Now, let's go back to a war story.  When I was working and requests came in from people who wanted to get their voting rights back, the file usually landed on my desk because I was good at filling out the forms, getting the info, etc.  Sometimes it can be a pain in the ass.  One man had a criminal record in a Southern state.  So I called the venue in question and spoke with a very nice, helpful woman who announced, "I don't show anything for your perpetrator."  OK, I gave more info, numbers, everything  I had which led to, "Oh, that explains it.  This was a crime against property.  He served ninety days, paid a fine, and if there were no further incidents in five years, that file gets expunged automatically."  This man had no record in that state and didn't know it. 

He had been arrested and convicted.  But there was no record.  Did that mean he could check the, "no," box or would he have been lying?  That's where I have an moral issue.  Maybe I have too much time on my hands. 

I do belive that it is time to lighten up.  Ask only about first and second degree crimes.  Or better yet, folks - don't commit crimes.