犯罪记录范围、用途和可获得性的扩张

The Expanding Scope,Use,and Availability of Criminal Records

美国犯罪记录系统主要有三个来源:联邦和州犯罪记录信息库,法庭记录和商业性信息销售商。其犯罪记录的范围不断扩张:一方面由于民权组织的抗议,联邦调查局已提议在国家犯罪信息中心中添加轻微犯罪和未成年人犯罪的信息;另一方面随着计算技术的发展,联邦犯罪记录数据库迅速激增和扩展,其中几个并非建立在以前的有罪判决或逮捕的基础上。以违反移民法者档案、暴力团伙和恐怖分子档案、保护令档案、刑事鉴定数据库(包括指纹数据库和DNA数据库)为例,联邦犯罪记录系统中信息的适用范围也在不断扩展。另外,获取犯罪记录的渠道也越来越多元化,各州和国会均授权更多的犯罪背景核查。这些犯罪记录系统和数据库既带来了好处也导致了问题,要解决这些问题并非易事。

There are three principal sources of the U.S.criminal records:state and federal criminal records repositories,court records,and commercial information vendors.The scope of criminal records is increasingly expanding:on the one hand,The Federal Bureau of Investigations has recently proposed adding non-serious and juvenile offenses to the types of criminal records in the National Crime Information Center over the protests of many civil rights groups;on the other hand, with the swift development of computer technology,Federal criminal records databases rapidly proliferate and expand,several of which don't depend upon a previous conviction or on an arrest.Take the Immigration Violators File,the Violent Gang and Terrorist File,the Protection Order File and the criminal identification databases(including fingerprint and DNA databases) as examples,the scope and use of information included in the federal criminal records system is also constantly expanding. Besides,access to these records has also expanded dramatically for states and Congress mandate more criminal background checking.These criminal records systems and databases not only provide many benefits but also cause problems.It is not easy to solve them.