Talk:Criminal record
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Criminal record is within the scope of the Law Enforcement WikiProject. Please Join, Create, and Assess. Remember, the project aims for no vandalism and no conflict, if an article needs attention regarding vandalism or breaches of wikiquette, please add it to the article watch list. |
| Start | This article has been rated as start-Class on the quality scale. |
It may be incorrect that the "rap" in rap sheet comes from Record of Arrest and Prosecution. The word "rap" went from an imitation of the sound of a sharp blow, to a sharp knock, to a figurative meaning of "sharp criticism. But as early as the 18th century "rap" was used by thieves and law enforcement officials to mean a criminal charge or punishment. By the 20th century it had made it into everyday speech, as in "beat the rap," "bum rap" and "take the rap." "Rap sheet" probably reflects this use of rap. See OED and Word Detective for sources. Lawmom1954 16:01, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
This article is not factually correct. For example, criminal records in Texas are permanent. Court records in Wisconsin are freely viewable and searchable regardless of disposition. 165.91.166.186 21:38, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- I agree that this article is inaccurate - it states that "only those who have been convicted of a crime may be accurately described as having a "criminal record", which is not correct in so far as the UK is concerned - see Police National Computer. lmno 12:10, 3 February 2006 (UTC)
It's not accurate in the United States either. I'm going to take some time to put in information about the Police National Computer and the CPIC in Canada. BlueGoose 03:20, 18 March 2006 (UTC)
Does blacklist really apply to criminal records? 70.191.174.29 12:35, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
I completely rewrote the first half of the article to add a more detailed explination of what a rap sheet is. I also deleted the Controversy and Alternatives sections because they are not relevant to describing what a rap sheet is. The Controversy section talked about background checks, not rap sheets; and the Alternatives section talked about what people who fail background checks can do for other employment. None of those are directly relevant to the topic of compiled criminal histories. I also expanded a great deal on Triple-I's, and edited references to police officers. A better term is Law Enforcement Agency, since cops aren't the only ones who use rap sheets. Prosecutors, Sheriff's deputies, corrections officers, and others use them on a daily basis. I relied entirely on my own personal experiences with Triple-I's, state, and local rap sheets for the article. I will try to add references as soon as I can find them. The NLETS website does provide a good deal of info, too. --68.105.50.50 04:16, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
CriminalWatchdog.com has been repeatedly adding a link to their commercial site at the top of external links. This page gets a prominent place in Google and thus is likely to be attractive to spammers. Eschulma 14:43, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Articles from a Private Investigator
[1] - This article has interesting information pertaining to this topic. I see the notice under no more external links and to add to discussion to see if appropriate. What is the best way to determine if content of this nature is appropriate (if at all)? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Thx2 (talk • contribs) 04:22, 16 April 2007 (UTC).
That's an article on a pay site, and not all that deep. Links to primary sources such as the FBI, or non-profits with significant information would be relevant. Eschulma 13:25, 7 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Definition
The very first sentence states: "A criminal record is a list of past crimes an individual has been convicted of." Is that really the case, that crimes under investigation or crimes, which have led to accusation but no conviction are not part of the criminal record? --Sir48 (talk) 13:19, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
- There seems to be a lot of ambiguity about this. I think the definition of "criminal record" varies between countries, and even between different states of the US. Consider this statement form the website of a New York criminal defence lawyer: "...the simple fact that you have been arrested does not mean that you have been convicted of anything. An arrest is not a conviction. An arrest does not give you a criminal record. The only way you can ever get a criminal record is if you are convicted of a crime after a trial or if you plead guilty to a crime." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.241.199.124 (talk • contribs)
