The major thing that needs to change in our criminal justice system is that defendants' privacy should be better protected by the legal system. In olden days,

The major thing that needs to change in our criminal justice system is that defendants' privacy should be better protected by the legal system. In olden days, having your court record accessible to the public wasn't too much of a problem, because in order to know about someone's criminal past, you had to walk through the courthouse and spend all day poring over dusty file folders. Which would only be done by people who really cared (especially since they'd have no way of knowing which of the thousands of courthouses in the country to look in, unless you told them where you were convicted). Now that we have powerful computers that can store and index all those records, and ubiquitous networks that can deliver the data anywhere, you can get instant information about anyone's interaction with the criminal justice system right from your desk (or your phone) with a few clicks and a few dollars on your credit card. If convicts, or even people who have only been arrested but never convicted, now have a ton of trouble getting education, employment, and housing, how are they supposed to improve themselves or re-integrate into society after their release?