Data-driven criminal justice operations have led to the transformation of criminal records into millions of data points. These records are publicly disclosed on the internet, commodified into valuable big data, and leveraged against people. In Digitial Punishment, Sarah Lageson demonstrates the consequences this system has for people, society, and public policy.

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.

The "Overview of the Privacy Act of 1974," prepared by the Department of Justice's Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties (OPCL), is a discussion of the Privacy Act's disclosure prohibition, its access and amendment provisions, and its agency recordkeeping requirements. Tracking the provisions of the Act itself, the Overview provides reference to, and legal analysis of, court decisions interpreting the Act's provisions.

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.

"Project of the American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Standards Committee, Criminal Justice Section"--T.p. verso.