I was arrested and convicted on two misdemeanor charges, once in 2007 and again in 2009. I served time, completed community service, attended classes, and paid my fines. It is almost four years later and I have made a complete turn around. I started college in January of this year and have maintained a 3.6 GPA. However, over the last three years of seeking employment I have no success, including no return contact from any employers that I applied at. After searching my name on Google, I realized that in the first ten results displayed was a publication from 'The Times of Northwest Indiana' newspaper "CrimeTimes". Both of my previous arrests were being displayed for anyone who searched my name to see. Not only did they make the arrests available to the public but they offer no information as to the outcome of the arrests- whether the person was found guilty or not, and only vague details of the police report. I wondered if this was making it easy for an employer to discriminate and look no further into my background simply because of the way these publications portray the arrests. I discussed this with several people and found that other papers are doing the same thing, such as displaying past mugshots even if the person was found innocent. Are these newspapers crossing a personal boundary that we are unaware of? What can be done about it? Is there anything about this that would make a case in court? How about damages to a person's character? It just doesn't seem right, since my crimes have long been paid for. It's like they are making each arrest public as if it were about a sex offender. Since when do misdemeanors or even arrests that result in a plea of not guilty need to publicized and available to public search engines?
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Unreasonable Publications of Past Arrests Available to Online Search Engines
- Thread Starter Franman80
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army judge
Super Moderator
Unless a court has ordered your arrest record sealed, or your record has been expunged,there are no legal boundaries being crossed.
Your arrest record and convictions are all matters of public record.
The public has a right to know. Yiu have no right to privacy in these matters.
Your arrest record and convictions are all matters of public record.
The public has a right to know. Yiu have no right to privacy in these matters.
mightymoose
Moderator
Yup. Perfectly legal and reasonable, and quite common as well.
This is a lingering consequence of your poor decisions in the past.
The best remedy is time. You can look in to sealing your record but getting info removed from websites may prove to be a much more complicated task.
This is a lingering consequence of your poor decisions in the past.
The best remedy is time. You can look in to sealing your record but getting info removed from websites may prove to be a much more complicated task.
Mighty Moose is right on. Removal of information concerning your record can even be more difficult against websites.
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