There's a good chance someone you know has a criminal record. Hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans have a conviction for a crime in their past. In most cases they've paid their fines and served their time. However, their criminal record follows them everywhere. It prevents many from getting work or a place to live. Some say after a period of time most criminal records should be sealed, or expunged. Others say it's important for employers and others to know as much as possible about someone's past.

	Minnesota's Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver opposes suggestions to allow the criminal records of some felons to be sealed. Some advocates say sealing records would give a second chance to offenders who made youthful mistakes and are not a threat to commit more crime. (MPR file photo)

Wearing a blue denim shirt and jeans, 51-year-old Dave could pass for 40. His tall, lean frame is topped with a full head of brown hair. An extrovert, he smiles easily and volunteers to talk about his jail time for drug possession. He's been off probation for a year and a half. When he tried to find work he discovered his felony record was a brick wall.

"Every employer, over 50 employers in a row, shot me down. Initial interview went very well, and as soon as they did the background check and found the felony - that was it," he says.

Dave, who doesn't want his last name used, is a Twin Cities native who says he was a recreational marijuana user, not a dealer. He was convicted of possessing and trying to sell marijuana and cocaine. He says he didn't commit crime to get money to pay for drugs.

"I had close friends and we'd buy a small amount, split it, and that would last us for a very long time," Dave says.

Most criminal histories are public records. Anyone can examine them. Employers often hire companies to do background checks of job applicants. Dave finds his criminal past follows him wherever he goes.

"Literally, somebody can find out everything but what's in your soul for $10."

Having a criminal record has far-reaching and long-lasting consequences. Many people convicted of a felony lose their right to vote. Some lose their driver's license. They can't apply for some commercial business licenses, they're barred from work in a range of education, finance, health care or public sector jobs. They have difficulty finding housing - and the list goes on.

When Gary Cunningham looked at how a criminal history affects black men, he found many of the convictions are for property crimes - car theft, burglary and writing bad checks. Cunningham is director of planning for Hennepin County and director of the African-American Men project. The group looked at why so many young black men are out of work. One of the reasons, Cunningham says, is their record gets in the way of employment.

Cunningham's report recommends the state expunge, or seal, some criminal records after a period of time - if a person doesn't commit another crime.

"If they committed another crime, that record would automatically come back up and be used by the judicial system to punish them to the full extent of the law," he says.

Cunningham says records of violent criminal histories - rape, assault and other serious offenses - should not be expunged.

Expungement of a criminal record means it's sealed, not erased. No one, not even police, has access to a sealed record unless they get a court order. Credit agencies, banks and employers are blocked from seeing the record.

Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver says there are examples of youthful bad judgment, where teenagers or young adults steal cars, who perhaps deserve a break. However, after a few moments of consideration, the former Anoka County prosecutor and state lawmaker backs off hiding even relatively minor offenses.

"Frankly, from a law enforcement perspective, I can't think of many examples where it should be expunged," he says.

Weaver says under Minnesota law, employers can be sued if they hire people with a record who then commit a crime on the job.

	Anoka County Attorney Robert Johnson is an advocate of expunging criminal records of felons in certain cases. He is concerned about what he calls collateral consequences for felons, once they're out of the criminal justice system. Those consequences include difficulties in finding jobs and housing. (Photo courtesy of National District Attorneys Association)

"The employer has a right to know - even if it's a long time ago - if that person's got a conviction, particularly if it's relevant to that employment," says Weaver. "If you're hiring a bus driver and they've got DWIs, you're hiring a teacher or someone who's going to have private time with clients, if they've got a prior sexual assault. I don't see how you can justify expunging that kind of information. The employer would have no clue about it, and potentially put people in a vulnerable situation."

Weaver's view is widely held. Felonies, after all, are often serious crimes. But in the digital age, everyone's criminal history - regardless of the severity of the offense - is available to everyone else.

A Twin Cities resident who doesn't want his name used went to a job interview two years ago. He says he was asked about his misdemeanor shoplifting conviction from several years ago.

"'We see you have this charge for theft on your record, we see it's been dismissed, but what's this about?' So, even though it had been dismissed there was still a record," he says.

The man was applying for a high technology job where security is a concern, and employers worry about any blemish on a person's record. The man didn't get the job.

"They never told me that was the reason, but I have to assume that weighed heavily in their decision," he says.

The man was successful in getting a judge to seal his record, but only after hiring an attorney. The process took a year. He won't say how much it cost, except to characterize the amount as "a lot."

Dave, the former marijuana user with a felony record, has hired a Twin Cities attorney who has told him expungement will cost about $3,000.

Expunging criminal records in Minnesota is rare. State officials say fewer than 80 were sealed last year.

Anoka County Attorney Robert Johnson supports expungement. He says justice is not served by having a large number of people who - after "paying their debt" - aren't allowed to re-enter society.

"You have to ask yourself, 'Have we created a second class of citizens that we have doomed to commit another crime and go back into the prison system, as the only way they can try to survive in this society?" Johnson says.

Johnson is past president of the National District Attorneys Association. He still leads the group's look at the effects of sealing criminal records.

Felonies include crimes such as sex offenses, violent robbery, repeat burglary. Others are property offenses, or actions by people Johnson says are basically OK, but who make dumb decisions. Say a squad car pulls up behind you and the officer turns on the red flashing lights to pull you over.

"In a moment of fright you increase your speed and you flee from the peace officer. You've committed a felony," he says.

Or, Johnson says, say an 18-year-old man is caught having sexual contact with his 15-year-old girlfriend.

"They may intend to get married, they may in fact marry, have children - but that person is a sex offender," says Johnson - a sex offender who must register with authorities wherever he lives.

How about a burglar, Johnson says, who enters a house intending to steal when people are inside? That's a crime of first degree burglary in Minnesota, a felony. But what happens if the thief is a 19-year-old rifling through a family's attached garage while people are in the house - not a violent or repeat burglar that the law is intended to punish?

"Should those two cases be treated the same? I would suggest not," says Johnson.

The response he often hears when he raises the idea of sealing criminal records is, "The criminals made their bed, now they can lie in it."

"I think that's a very typical reaction - until someone in their family is accused of a felony," he says.

Johnson is an influential and a highly-regarded voice in the discussion of expunging criminal history. However, the discussion is not getting very far. The topic is not popular at a time when many are still in a mood to punish criminals. In 1996, Minnesota lawmakers approved making expungement more difficult.

For now, the political pendulum still appears to be in the direction of more punishment - with anti-terrorism proposals before both Congress and the Minnesota Legislature - to keep closer tabs on people with criminal histories.

National District Attorneys Association Commentary by past president Robert Johnson on "collateral consequences"