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Divergent public access and personal privacy across criminal record disclosure policy in the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID6090216
AuthorsJuan R Sandoval (0000-0001-9109-2809, Department of Criminology, Law and Society, School of Social Ecology University of California, Irvine Irvine California USA, corresponding author), Sarah Lageson (0000-0002-4108-4365, School of Criminal Justice Rutgers University‐Newark Newark New Jersey USA)
Year2022
Volume44
Issue3
Pages255-277
Publication date2022-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLaw & Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0265-8240 • E-ISSN: 1467-9930
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/lapo.12193
OpenAlexW4283768144
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited49

Scholars have paid minimal attention to state statutory guidance that allows criminal justice agencies to disclose records that contain personal information about arrestees, defendants, and incarcerated people. We analyze US state policy for police, courts, prisons, and record repositories (N = 200). Most states restrict access to compiled criminal histories, but nearly all allow broad public access to agency records. Divergent policy guidance accounts for these differences, where transparency laws govern agency records while state criminal codes regulate records of arrest and prosecution, otherwise known as RAP sheets. These policy differences contribute to widespread disclosures of non‐conviction records, raising questions about due process and inequality in the big data age

Agency (philosophy · Audit · Business · Conviction · Criminal justice · Criminal record · Criminology · Political science · Sociology · State (computer science · Statutory law · Transparency (behavior · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Accounting

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