A proposal to seal court records that have been expunged is getting a lot of push back, with the majority of people who submitted formal comments saying the records shouldn’t be kept secret.<\/p>\n
The Hawaii state Judiciary, which floated the idea, solicited public comments between July and September because it\u2019s considering<\/a> adopting a rule that would seal all expunged records.<\/p>\n
People facing criminal charges can apply for expungement<\/a> a year after accepting a “deferred acceptance of guilty” or a “deferred acceptance of no contest”<\/a> plea. Both allow charges to be dismissed as long as a person abides by certain conditions.<\/p>\n
When a record is expunged, it is erased from the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center\u2019s online database<\/a>, hiding it from employer background checks<\/a>.<\/p>\n
But expunged records are still available in hard copy at the courts.<\/p>\n
In addition to private individuals, representatives from Hawaii media organizations and a state senator said they strongly opposed sealing expunged records at the courts.<\/p>\n
“This proposal is an affront to the public’s right to an open and transparent judicial system,\u201d wrote Ed Lynch, managing editor at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. \u201cThis rule proposal would make the state judicial system less accessible and transparent to the general public at a time when it should be striving to be more open.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hawaii Society of Professional Journalists, Hawaii Reporter and Big Island Press also said that the rule change would impede the public\u2019s right to know that criminal records exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sealing of the wrong documents could mean the public wouldn\u2019t have crucial information in deciding whether someone is fit for office or appointment or whether a government agency did its job in vetting, hiring and promoting employees,\u201d wrote Stirling Morita, president of the Hawaii chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.<\/p>\n
Sen. Sam Slom, the only public official to comment on the proposal, echoed the media’s views.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need more, not less, judicial transparency and need to keep everyone\u2019s rights in proper perspective, especially victims, the media and taxpayers,\u201d Slom wrote. \u201cPlea deferral is already controversial and leads many in the public to question the fairness of our process.\u201d<\/p>\n
While many opposed the rule change, several people wrote in support of the idea. Most cited personal experiences with the judicial system and that sealing records allow people to move on with their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the court orders on public view really does not give one a second chance,\u201d wrote Harriet Lum, who said she had a friend who was having trouble rebuilding his life with his court record still publicly available. <\/p>\n
Commenters also said that it did not make sense to have the record erased from the criminal justice center database but still available on the Judiciary’s website.<\/p>\n
\u201cFormal expungement of arrest documents is a meaningless exercise if these files, as well as other court proceedings, remain on the Judiciary’s public Ho’ohiki website,\u201d wrote Bernard Wilson, who had his dismissed charges expunged earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Several said they were concerned that access to expunged records would discourage employers from hiring people whose charges were dismissed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The courts received mostly negative feedback about a rule that would close off public access to some criminal records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12043,"featured_media":1041747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2782,693],"tags":[],"post_format":[],"project":[],"coauthors":[2017],"class_list":["post-17228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawaii-beat","category-hawaii-state-government"],"slp_mobile_featured_image":{"id":1041747,"href":"https:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1041747","image_path":"https:\/\/d1l18ops95qbzp.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/2014\/07\/53ccc9e687011.jpg","caption":"The statue of King Kamehameha in downtown Honolulu. (Civil Beat photo\/2010)"},"acf":[],"slp_coauthors":[{"display_name":"Anita Hofschneider","user_nicename":"anita","author_link":"https:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/author\/anita\/"}],"slp_acf":false,"slp_primary_category":null,"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Most Oppose Hawaii Judiciary’s Plan to Seal Expunged Records","url":"http:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/2012\/09\/17228-most-oppose-hawaii-judiciarys-plan-to-seal-expunged-records\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.civilbeat.org\/2012\/09\/17228-most-oppose-hawaii-judiciarys-plan-to-seal-expunged-records\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d1l18ops95qbzp.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/2014\/07\/53ccc9e687011-150x150.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/d1l18ops95qbzp.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/2014\/07\/53ccc9e687011.jpg"},"articleSection":"Hawai\u02bbi","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Anita Hofschneider"}],"creator":["Anita Hofschneider"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"天美视频","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2012-09-26T02:16:46Z","datePublished":"2012-09-26T02:16:46Z","dateModified":"2012-09-26T04:43:45Z"},"rendered":"