The Criminal Records Book

For over sixty million Americans, possessing a criminal record overshadows everything else about their public identity. A rap sheet, or even a court appearance or background report that reveals a run-in with the law, can have fateful consequences for a person’s interactions with just about everyone else. The Eternal Criminal Record makes transparent a pervasive system of police databases and identity screening that has become a routine feature of American life. The United States is unique in making criminal information easy to obtain by employers, landlords, neighbors, even cyberstalkers. Its nationally integrated rap-sheet system is second to none as an effective law enforcement tool, but it has also facilitated the transfer of ever more sensitive information into the public domain. While there are good reasons for a person’s criminal past to be public knowledge, records of arrests that fail to result in convictions are of questionable benefit. Simply by placing someone under arrest, a police officer has the power to tag a person with a legal history that effectively incriminates him or her for life. In James Jacobs’s view, law-abiding citizens have a right to know when individuals in their community or workplace represent a potential threat. But convicted persons have rights, too. Jacobs closely examines the problems created by erroneous record keeping, critiques the way the records of individuals who go years without a new conviction are expunged, and proposes strategies for eliminating discrimination based on criminal history, such as certifying the records of those who have demonstrated their rehabilitation.

This book tells you where and how to access criminal records, familiarizes you with the Employer and Vendor Compliance Guidelines, and gives practical hands-on information.

This book, which incorporates pertinent statutes and court decisions since 1983, covers the procedures to seal criminal records, dismiss convictions, destroy marijuana records, or reduce felony convictions.

WANTED! U.S. Criminal Records is your one-stop reference for information sources about criminals from America's past. WANTED! lists archives, libraries, courts and online sites containing numerous sets of criminal information: Prison Records, Court Records, Parole Records, Pardon Records, Execution Information, Investigative Reports, Police Reports. ___ But that's not all. You also get examples of documents you can find online and in repositories across the country. The book also includes a primer on how you can conduct genealogical research on criminals, including various tips learned from the author's vast experience in this field.

"The Criminal Records Manual shows employers how to comply with the latest workplace laws and regulations, and avoid lawsuits associated with using criminal records for background screening." "The Criminal Records Manual includes the citations and detailed explanations of the state statutes that regulate criminal record use by employers and employment screening firms."--BOOK JACKET.

Nearly every job application asks it: have you ever been convicted of a crime? For the hundreds of thousands of young men leaving American prisons each year, their answer to that question may determine whether they can find work and begin rebuilding their lives. The product of an innovative field experiment, Marked gives us our first real glimpse into the tremendous difficulties facing ex-offenders in the job market. Devah Pager matched up pairs of young men, randomly assigned them criminal records, then sent them on hundreds of real job searches throughout the city of Milwaukee. Her applicants were attractive, articulate, and capable—yet ex-offenders received less than half the callbacks of the equally qualified applicants without criminal backgrounds. Young black men, meanwhile, paid a particularly high price: those with clean records fared no better in their job searches than white men just out of prison. Such shocking barriers to legitimate work, Pager contends, are an important reason that many ex-prisoners soon find themselves back in the realm of poverty, underground employment, and crime that led them to prison in the first place. “Using scholarly research, field research in Milwaukee, and graphics, [Pager] shows that ex-offenders, white or black, stand a very poor chance of getting a legitimate job. . . . Both informative and convincing.”—Library Journal “Marked is that rare book: a penetrating text that rings with moral concern couched in vivid prose—and one of the most useful sociological studies in years.”—Michael Eric Dyson

Terry Thomas considers the use of criminal records within the criminal justice system and beyond - especially the growth of their use for pre-employment screening via the Criminal Records Bureau. This book also considers future developments and the impact that transferring criminal records across international borders will have.

This “immensely stimulating story of true crime down the ages” tells the history of human violence, from Peking Man to the Mafia (The Times, London). This landmark work offers a completely new approach to the history and psychology of human violence. Its sweep is broad, its research meticulous and detailed. Colin Wilson explores the bloodthirsty sadism of the ancient Assyrians and the mass slaughter by the armies led by Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Ivan the Terrible, and Vlad the Impaler. He delves into modern history, exploring the genocides practiced by Stalin and Hitler. He then takes a chilling look into the sex crimes and mass murders that have become symbols of the neuroses and intensity of modern life. With breathtaking audacity and stunning insight, Wilson puts criminality firmly in a wide, illuminating historical context. “A work of massive energy, compulsively readable, splendidly informative . . . it establishes Wilson in a European tradition of thought that includes H. G. Wells, Sartre and Shaw.” —Time Out London “A tremendous resource for crime buffs as well as a challenging exposition for some of the more subtle criminological thinking of our time.” —Kirkus Reviews

The effect of a criminal record or arrest can be long-lasting and damaging. Setting out the steps that can help clients to navigate the effect of their criminal record, improve their job prospects, and protect against harmful disclosure of their private life. Criminal Records, Privacy and the Criminal Justice System: A Handbook is a primer on the law and available applications to be taken for clients relating to privacy, criminal records, historic convictions, and reputation management in the criminal justice sector. The authors guide you through the steps that can be taken to delete police records, challenge the content of criminal record certificates, expunge criminal cautions, and bring claims protecting the privacy and data protection rights of clients. As the only handbook of its kind, addressing public and private law claims under one title, this brand new book gives an holistic overview of the ways in which lawyers can help clients cope with the impact of the criminal justice system on their lives and reputations. As such, it is an essential guide for criminal and public law solicitors and barristers, law centres, CABs and PR firms.

"Cole excavates the forgotten and hidden history of criminal identification--from photography to exotic anthropometric systems based on measuring body parts, from fingerprinting to DNA typing"--Jacket.