Criminal Record: A Lifetime Scar
"To err is human". What a very easy quotation to say! A person
who is continuously committing wrong doings against anybody is
just human, so it can be chuckled. In the morals of a civilized
world, consequences are bound by codes and decrees. Each
individual has an imaginary private bubble that once intruded
would mean trespassing. When a person violates a moral law of an
individual or group, then he has done a CRIME. If only the
offended one can smile and let it pass, but any mark of it
always become history in archives of criminal records that are
publicly available as reference. It could mean the destruction
of lifetime opportunities and worst---future.
No matter how philosophical the word MORAL means, in all domains
of nations, people are ruled by strictest sense of what is right
or wrong. There is a common understanding and literal punishment
for crimes, depending on severity, and that is being held under
custody of the authorities in prisons---to be robbed off freedom
and to cease the continuation of wrong doing. Although as
generations pass by, so many faces of punishment has been
practiced, currently, the due process undergone by criminals
under the hands of the judges and prosecutors remain the fairest
decision.
Any case could be terminated as long the plaintiff's justice has
been met, either by informal arbitration to the point of
undergoing court hearing. Upon withdrawal of case, the crime
offender could walk away like a freeman, with the exception of
some emotional impact, that is if the case has been settled
amicably. A serious offense, on the other hand, means worst
jeopardy of a person's reputation not only to his closest
friends, loved ones, and to the database of agencies in compiled
collections of criminal records.
Having the mark of criminal record is the something that holds a
person from committing a crime out of awkward actions. The idea
of being marooned away from the society with all optimistic
goals taken away is enough to plague a normal life.
Usually, there is a controversy in the handling of criminal
records that even innocent convicts have a hard time recovering
and getting back their true "real lives" as untarnished one.
With the existence of records in major government offices to
help employers secure better workers, no individual will ever
want a bad record that will be known of him. In the U.S., FBI
(Federal Bureau of Investigation) with its National Crime
Information Center (NCIS) has the widest access to this database
of felony lists all over the state, including not so serious
misdemeanors.
They also have the capacity to get fast background check of
firearms owners and would be buyers. The Integrated Automated
Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) has also aided the
crime agency to track down lists of civil submissions with a
record of 47 million references.
In England, sensitive job positions like working in institutions
dealing with children and care giving of patients, health care,
usually employers ask their workers for Disclosure Service. This
gives access to institutions so that they can obtain the
following needed information of their employees' background and
criminal records.
Basically, these are lists of conviction data and details from
local police records and from other institutions, including
non-conviction acts. Although obtaining this is within the
consent of the employee, still it is mandatory in other
workplace that by not complying would mean not getting the job.
Criminal records are nothing but archives, but in its whole
intent, they are indelible marks of lifetime.