As you are no doubt well aware, technology improvements and the digitizing of public records has greatly improved the ease and simplicity of access to court records. However it seems that changes in Wisconsin are afoot that would lead to some major adjustments in the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access system.
The WCCA offers free access to court records and is also an ideal tool for conducting an employee background check. The proposed changes potentially lead to serious concerns about the meticulousness of records keeping, and maintaining the public’s right to freedom of information.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is considering three fundamental modifications to the WCCA:
- An expansion of state judges’ ability to order the expunction of criminal convictions, including the removal of case records from the system.
- A mandate that records of pending criminal cases or those that do not lead to conviction to not appear on the site.
- Provision for a mechanism for the destruction of court records immediately after the mandatory minimum retention periods expire.
Of course there are arguments on both sides of the fence, but supporters say the changes are necessary because of the freedom of access to records by potential employers. This access basically negates an employee background check through the normal channels where a candidate has to give consent to the background check. Not only that, the prospective employee isn’t going to be told why they didn’t get hired, because the process once again doesn’t follow rules laid out by the FCRA.
Supporters say the changes are necessary in part because potential employers and others can view case records — even those in which an individual was not convicted — and discriminate against the involved person, said Erik Guenther, a Madison attorney who coauthored the petition to make the changes.
The way Erik Guenther, and other supporters of the proposed changes see it, the recommended changes extend privacy protections to people who are for all intents and purposes, innocent. Guenther even stated that un-convicted person’s with a slight blemish on their record have less protection than convicted felons. To my way of thinking, that’s just wrong.
“When someone has been dragged through the process of arrest, charging, investigation and ultimately prevails,” he said, “the state has an obligation to not continue to harm that person by limiting their employment prospects. And it’s been demonstrated that a job applicant who has been acquitted of a crime stands in a worse place than one who has no criminal record.”
In February of 2010, the Wisconsin Supreme Court convened a hearing on the issue and gave audience to dozens of folks castigating the system. On Monday, October 4, the Supreme Court will once again discuss the issue, and will perhaps pass judgment.
“My honest feeling is that removing this information from WCCA is not going to make it go away,” Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council told the Green Bay Press-Gazette, “that once WCCA becomes no longer an authoritative source of information about our state courts, people are going to turn to some provider who is. And this…will be a huge boon to private providers who are going to mine this information and provide it at a charge.”
There seems to be extremes on both ends of the arguments, but very little middle ground. I think the best course of action is to simply make the system accessible only to those who actually need to conduct a criminal background check. The public should only be able to access their own records free of charge, and should be required to pay a hefty fee and give a legitimate reason for access to the records of another individual.
Employers should be required to follow strict procedures for conducting an employee background check using the WCCA. The prospective employee needs to receive notice of a background check, and also needs to be made aware of any adverse being taken as a result of the employee background check. Last of all, they should be given an avenue to appeal and correct erroneous information.
I personally believe the updates being called for are extreme and not reasonable. Of course if I was a criminal, this would be the next best thing to sliced bread. However, people who decide they have no accountability to the rest of society need to be held responsible for what they did. However, as far as an employee background check is concerned, employers should certainly have more accountability than at present. Feel free to leave your comments and feedback in regards to this topic.
