INDIANAPOLIS —
Using a law passed last year aimed at giving people a “second chance,” hundreds of Indiana residents with years-old arrests for low-level crimes have been granted court orders shielding their criminal histories from employers.
The law has been hailed as a success, but there’s no guarantee yet that sealed-off information won’t show up on employment background checks that are conducted by third parties.
Earlier this year, the Indiana General Assembly passed a subsequent law that bars companies that buy and sell data used by employers in hiring decisions from releasing criminal records that have been shielded by the court.
But the law doesn’t go into effect until July 2013. And there is some concern now that those private background-check companies will try to get the Legislature to roll back the law before then, citing the difficulties and expense of updating computerized criminal records that they buy by the bulk and collect by the millions.
Later this month, a legislative study committee is slated to take up the issue. In passing the legislation to regulate what those private background check companies can release, lawmakers agreed to delay its implementation until 2013 to give those companies a chance to voice their concerns to legislators.
Backers of the 2011 law that allows for the shielding of some criminal records, say the law was intended to make it easier for people with years-old, nonviolent, low-level offenses to get a job. To date, the Indiana State Police has received hundreds of court orders requiring it to remove nearly 1,700 criminal records from public access.
“Our intention was to give people who had made a mistake in their past and who had worked to redeem themselves a second chance,” said state Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, who co-authored the bipartisan bill.
“It undermines our intent if the information that is supposed to be shielded is being released because of mistakes by a third party,” Turner said.
For Indiana residents who have taken advantage of the 2011 law that gave them a legal right to shield some criminal records from employers, the issue is critical.
In April, the National Consumer Law Center, an advocacy organization, released a report that said an increasing number of background employment checks are error-filled because millions of criminal records are being collected digitally and not updated or checked for accuracy.
The report cites multiple examples of errors, including those involving job candidates who’d been charged with a crime and later exonerated, but only the criminal charge showed up on the record. The center also found examples of people who’d had their court records expunged or sealed, but the information showed up in their employment background checks anyway.
“It’s heart-breaking for someone who thinks he’s been given a second chance to find out that’s not really true,” said Persis Yu, the National Consumer Law Center attorney who authored the report. “It certainly undermines their faith in the judicial system.”
State Rep. Jud McMillin, R-Brookville, has been both a prosecutor and a defense attorney. He supports the 2011 law that allows people to have their arrests records shielded, and he’s convinced that third-party data collectors can comply with the state’s requirements, set to kick in next July, that they maintain accurate records.
“They’ve told us they can do this, that have the right technology,” McMillin said. “We need to hold them to their word.”
Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Avon, an attorney, chairs the House Courts and Criminal Code committee where the issue will be discussed on Aug. 23. Steuerwald said he supports the law. “We just need to make sure it does what we intended it to do.”
A spokesman for Lexis-Nexis, one of the world’s biggest providers of background information to employers, declined to comment on the company’s concerns about what the Indiana law will require the company to do when it goes into effect next year.
There is already a federal law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, that requires companies that collect and sell background information to employers to keep their records updated and accurate. But in its April study, the National Consumer Law Center said the industry is largely unregulated and infrequently policed.
On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that one of the biggest employment background screening companies, HireRight Solutions, agreed to pay $2.6 million to settle FTC charges that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to use reasonable procedures to assure the accuracy of the criminal history information it sold to employers.
It was the first time the FTC has charged an employment background screening firm with violating the federal law. The FTC said HireRight Solutions sold information to employers that included criminal history records that had been expunged or sealed, failed to prevent the same criminal offense information from being included in a background report multiple times, and failed to follow reasonable procedures to prevent obviously inaccurate consumer report information from being provided to employers.
State News
State’s criminal-records shield law doesn’t stop release of information
- State News
-
-
Court lets walk-out fines against House Democrats stand
INDIANAPOLIS — House Democrats who had to pay more than $100,000 in fines after they walked out of the Indiana Statehouse won’t get the help they sought from the Indiana Supreme Court.
-
Prison sentence of 12-year-old prompts new juvenile sentencing law
Three years ago, when 12-year-old Paul Henry Gingerich became the youngest person in Indiana ever sent to prison as an adult, his story gained international attention and sparked questions about whether children belong behind bars with grown-up offenders.
-
Ritz orders independent analysis of ISTEP results
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz has hired an outside expert to determine the validity of ISTEP+ test scores of nearly 80,000 students who were kicked offline while taking the high-stakes standardized test.
-
State Education Department hires third party to validate ISTEP+ data
Indiana schools’ chief Glenda Ritz announced today that she’s hiring an outsider reviewer to determine whether the computer problems experienced by students during ISTEP+ test-taking should invalidate the test results.
-
State to lift decades-old ban on switchblades
For more than a half-century, the only legal access that most Hoosiers had to switchblades was viewing them in the hands of youthful hoodlums in movies such as “West Side Story” and “Rebel Without a Cause.” That's soon to end.
-
New law legalizes midwifery in Indiana
A new law that legalizes midwifery in Indiana has been a long time coming for women like Mary Ann Griffin, a certified professional midwife and advocate of home births.
-
High Court stays out of Indiana Planned Parenthood funding case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will not disturb a lower court ruling that blocks Indiana’s effort to strip Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood because the organization performs abortions among its medical services.
-
State won’t use free lunch program as poverty indicator
Indiana is changing the way it counts low-income students in public schools because Republican legislators suspect fraud in the federal school-lunch program used to measure poverty.
-
Report: State is both ‘leader and laggard’
A newly released report card on where Indiana ranks nationally in key economic measures shows the state is both “a leader and a laggard” in areas that signal potential for more prosperity.
-
Indiana’s high school grad rate continues upward
Indiana’s reported high school graduation rate continues to improve, moving from 77 percent to more than 88 percent in less than a decade, but there are still significant achievement gaps marked by race and income.
-
Schools chief Ritz on fast learning curve
For many occupants of the Indiana Statehouse, the week after the General Assembly wraps up its final frenzy of work is a quiet one. But not for Glenda Ritz.
-
SLIDESHOW: Governor Otis R. Bowen
Photos from the Indiana State Archives of the late Otis R. Bowen, who served as governor of the state as well as in the Ronald Reagan White House. The Bremen native died Saturday
-
Out of office, Lugar shuns retirement
One year ago, Indiana’s longest serving U.S. senator was rejected by Republican primary voters and forced into an unwelcome retirement from a distinguished political career that spanned 46 years. But at 81, former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar is hardly in a resting mode.
-
Lugar wary of Syria involvement
Former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar has been out of office since early January, but he’s still being sought after for his opinion about foreign policy matters he once helped shape.
-
Judge grants class status to lawsuit again BMV
INDIANAPOLIS — As many as 4 million Indiana drivers could become plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has overcharged for driver’s licenses since 2007.
-
Budget deal includes little funding for criminal code reform
Facing the end-of-session deadline, Indiana legislators moved forward on a bill to overhaul the state’s criminal sentencing laws but left undone the issue of where local communities will get the money to implement it.
-
Legislators closing in on final budget
In his first four months as the chief budget maker in the Indiana House, Republican Rep. Tim Brown hasn’t been surprised by the long hours, multiple demands and intense debate that goes with crafting a $30 billion spending plan.
-
New poll shows voters tepid on Pence tax plan
With just days to go before the deadline for a final budget bill, a new independent poll shows Republican Gov. Mike Pence may not have gotten much mileage for his travels around the state pitching his 10 percent tax cut plan.
-
DOC hopes ‘cold case’ cards lead to solved cases
Indiana state prison officials are using customized playing cards for a deadly serious purpose: To help unlock the mysteries of unsolved murders and persons gone missing.
-
Indiana attorney general says Congress must act on immigration reform
Amidst concerns that the Boston Marathon bombing may derail federal action on comprehensive immigration reform, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller is turning up some collective heat on Congress to move ahead.
-
Disagreements stall criminal code reform bill
Negotiations over the final language in a bill that rewrites Indiana’s criminal code may come down to the last week of the legislative session.
-
Budget forecasters predict bigger drop in gaming revenues
While a gaming bill is still in play in the General Assembly, state budget forecasters are predicting the payoff to the state from legalized gambling will be even lower than they thought.
-
Legislature heads into final stretch
The Indiana General Assembly has slogged its way through hundreds of bills since convening in January but in some critical ways, the real work has just begun.
-
Criminal records bill passes Indiana Senate
Legislation that would allow some people with long-ago arrests and convictions in Indiana to wipe clean their criminal record has moved one step closer to the governor’s desk.
-
Court challenge likely for welfare drug-testing bill
Both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly have passed a bill that ties drug testing to welfare benefits, but if signed into law, the next debate may be on the question: Is it constitutional?
-
Push to roll back ban on in-state tuition for immigrants stops short
House Republicans who wanted to roll back a two-year-old ban on in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants have abandoned their plan to expand a Senate bill covering a much smaller group of students.
-
House committee OKs in-state tuition for some undocumented students
The debate over in-state college tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants is headed for the Indiana House.
-
Legislators working on funding plan for criminal code rewrite
As legislation that overhauls Indiana’s criminal code moves forward, supporters of the bill are working on finding funding for local communities to implement it.
-
Republican super PAC leader backs immigration reform
As the politics of immigration reform heats up in the Statehouse and Congress, a prominent Republican is ramping up his efforts to rid the influence of what he calls anti-immigrant “extremists” in his party.
-
House considers bill to shorten school day
Legislation that would have freed the state’s high-performing schools from the mandatory 180-day school year has been amended in the House with a provision to shorten the school day instead.
- More State News Headlines
-
James Gandolfini Dies at Age 51
Raw: Heat, Spurs Back on Court Ahead of Game 7
Fmr. TWA Flight 800 Investigators Want New Probe
Time Lapse: Rebuilding Bridge Post-collapse
Hunt for Ex-Teamster Boss Hoffa's Remains Ends
Police at Patriots Tight End's Home for 2nd Day
Raw: Baby White Rhino Debuts at Australian Zoo
Ohio Woman Accuses 3 of Holding Her Captive
Raw: Volcano Erupts Near Mexico City
Dolce and Gabbana Convicted of Tax Evasion
In Berlin, Obama Channels Cold War Activism
Paris, Prince Depositions Used in Jackson Trial
Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail
Family Tweets Say Kim Kardashian Gives Birth
Raw: Massive Protests Fill Brazilian Streets
Fans Cheer Dramatic Heat Comeback
Fed Suggests Bond Purchases Could Slow
Obama Renews Call for Nuclear Reductions
Obama Welcomes WNBA Champions to White House
Steven Tyler, Joe Perry on Award, Tour, 'Idol'
Paula Deen Admits to Using N Word
Rihanna Hits Fan With Microphone
Men's Wearhouse Founder Fired
Miss Utah Explains Rambling Response
Exclusive: Locklear & Seymour Lock Lips
Miami Heat Wins in Overtime
Raw: Arizona Wildfire Scorches 8 Square Miles
Fists, chairs fly in restaurant brawl
Journalist Michael Hastings Dies in Fiery Hollywood Crash
Hairy Leg Stockings Aim to Deflect Male Attention
Inside Kim Kardashian's Premature Labor
Three Charged for Enslaving Mother and Daughter
Raw: Huge Fire Near Yosemite National Park
Spurs' Popovich has no problem with Spurs' intensity
RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled
Paige Butcher Scorches on Hawaii Beach
Video: worst way to load cargo onto a plane
Never-before-seen footage of '08 Times Square bomber
