5 ms·

It's pretty hilarious and somewhat frightening I found my dad's arrest 25 years ago for a speeding ticket he had "forgotten" to pay. I remember being 11 years o

by mrits 6y ago

It's pretty hilarious and somewhat frightening I found my dad's arrest 25 years ago for a speeding ticket he had "forgotten" to pay. I remember being 11 years old and having to wait 8 hours for my parents to come back from picking up a pizza. Data availability is crazy.

hbt 6y ago
the frightening part is although your father's record is available to the public, police officers who are caught lying while testifying get to seal the record. in many jurisdictions, sealing a record is the equivalent of destroying it. your crimes will haunt you forever because the system never forgets, meanwhile they simply go back to business like it never happened ref https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/03/18/nyregion/testilying-police-perjury-new-york.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/03/18/nyre...
- unishark 6y ago
  I think judges can seal records for anyone. A friend of mine had it done after his conviction several years ago. Sure enough I can't find him in the database. He still notifies potential employers about it though.
  - notyourwork 6y ago
    He’s legally required to.
handol 6y ago
Found an assault charge on my Mom from '92.
- richardbarosky 6y ago
  Do you think the data should be removed from the government portals? Those are interesting points. What do you think is the right balance to strike? I can see why it might be surprising to find some results when searching. The same data has already been available in many other databases that have existed long before this one and in those described on the info page as well.
  - handol 6y ago
    It's on the internet forever now. If there's a balance to strike it would have had to have been done in 2007 when the court digitized their records and put them online. A search for "minor consuming" reveals a few hundred thousand cases against children. I'm a little surprised to see that.
    - codenesium 6y ago
      Minor in this context is often 18 to 20 years old.
      - lostlogin 6y ago
        And drinking at that age is legal in many places. I’d imagine there are a fair few people on that list who’s crimes are for things that are now legal.
Waterluvian 6y ago
Arrest for a speeding ticket? Good God.
- Justin_K 6y ago
  The arrest was for failing to appear in court.
  - Waterluvian 6y ago
    Ah yeah suppose that can escalate.
  - cocoa19 6y ago
    In other countries, if you are speeding, you get a ticket by mail. If you are driving under the influence, you are sent to jail for the night. Why do taxpayers have to pay expensive court proceedings, and offenders have to spend a lot of money for an attorney, and waste a bunch of time.
    - zalkota 6y ago
      You don’t have to pay money to show up to court.
    - filoleg 6y ago
      >Why do taxpayers have to pay expensive court proceedings, and offenders have to spend a lot of money for an attorney, and waste a bunch of time. They don't have to. The usual process for something like a speeding violation in the US is: 1. You get stopped for speeding (or get caught on a speedcam). 2. You receive the ticket in the mail. 3. At this point, you have an option to agree with it and pay the fine OR appear in court and hope they will rule in your favor (which could easily happen if you genuinely believe they were wrong; and half the time, the cop himself will fail to appear in court anyway, so you get the ticket dismissed if it wasn't anything too wild). You don't have to appear in court (if you choose to accept the ticket and pay the fine) or waste money on attorneys (if you choose to contest the ticket in court). You can literally play it the same way in the US as you just described, by getting the ticket in your mailbox and paying it off (for something like speeding). That's it. Contesting the ticket in court is just another option available to you. What happened to the parent commenter who mentioned failing to appear in court, they basically didn't pay the ticket they received (aka ignored it) and didn't show up in court to contest it either. That's pretty much it.

by mrits 6y ago

hbt 6y ago

the frightening part is although your father's record is available to the public, police officers who are caught lying while testifying get to seal the record. in many jurisdictions, sealing a record is the equivalent of destroying it. your crimes will haunt you forever because the system never forgets, meanwhile they simply go back to business like it never happened ref https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/03/18/nyregion/testilying-police-perjury-new-york.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/03/18/nyre...

unishark 6y ago
I think judges can seal records for anyone. A friend of mine had it done after his conviction several years ago. Sure enough I can't find him in the database. He still notifies potential employers about it though.
- notyourwork 6y ago
  He’s legally required to.

handol 6y ago

Found an assault charge on my Mom from '92.

richardbarosky 6y ago
Do you think the data should be removed from the government portals? Those are interesting points. What do you think is the right balance to strike? I can see why it might be surprising to find some results when searching. The same data has already been available in many other databases that have existed long before this one and in those described on the info page as well.
- handol 6y ago
  It's on the internet forever now. If there's a balance to strike it would have had to have been done in 2007 when the court digitized their records and put them online. A search for "minor consuming" reveals a few hundred thousand cases against children. I'm a little surprised to see that.
  - codenesium 6y ago
    Minor in this context is often 18 to 20 years old.
    - lostlogin 6y ago
      And drinking at that age is legal in many places. I’d imagine there are a fair few people on that list who’s crimes are for things that are now legal.

Waterluvian 6y ago

Arrest for a speeding ticket? Good God.

Justin_K 6y ago
The arrest was for failing to appear in court.
- Waterluvian 6y ago
  Ah yeah suppose that can escalate.
- cocoa19 6y ago
  In other countries, if you are speeding, you get a ticket by mail. If you are driving under the influence, you are sent to jail for the night. Why do taxpayers have to pay expensive court proceedings, and offenders have to spend a lot of money for an attorney, and waste a bunch of time.
  - zalkota 6y ago
    You don’t have to pay money to show up to court.
  - filoleg 6y ago
    >Why do taxpayers have to pay expensive court proceedings, and offenders have to spend a lot of money for an attorney, and waste a bunch of time. They don't have to. The usual process for something like a speeding violation in the US is: 1. You get stopped for speeding (or get caught on a speedcam). 2. You receive the ticket in the mail. 3. At this point, you have an option to agree with it and pay the fine OR appear in court and hope they will rule in your favor (which could easily happen if you genuinely believe they were wrong; and half the time, the cop himself will fail to appear in court anyway, so you get the ticket dismissed if it wasn't anything too wild). You don't have to appear in court (if you choose to accept the ticket and pay the fine) or waste money on attorneys (if you choose to contest the ticket in court). You can literally play it the same way in the US as you just described, by getting the ticket in your mailbox and paying it off (for something like speeding). That's it. Contesting the ticket in court is just another option available to you. What happened to the parent commenter who mentioned failing to appear in court, they basically didn't pay the ticket they received (aka ignored it) and didn't show up in court to contest it either. That's pretty much it.