"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. |
