Even if you are found not guilty or not convicted of a crime, if you have been arrested or gone to court these things can show up in public records. These recor

Even if you are found not guilty or not convicted of a crime, if you have been arrested or gone to court these things can show up in public records. These records could be expunged with some effort, depending on the laws in the jurisdiction. Such expungement orders should clear someone from public databases. If it hasn't been expunged though, the info will still show up. Even if dismissed or wrongfully convicted, any mention of anything criminal would cause concern. It's that idea of "where there's smoke there's fire" type of thinking that seems to go on around this kind of stuff. When other candidates exist without the 'concerning circumstances,' why take a risk? For better or worse, it makes sense. Seeing that someone was arrested for crack for any reason would raise suspicion. There would be little motivation to look into further details once seeing "arrested for crack" pop up in a search about a candidate.