People who have never faced charges or have had charges dropped, find that a lingering arrest record can ruin their chance to secure employment, loans and housing. Even in cases of a mistaken arrest, the damaging documents aren't automatically removed.

Government should at minimum:

1. Automatically remove arrest records of non convicted cases.

2. Declare illegal to profit in any way (selling, advertising, etc) using people criminal records and declare illegal commercial mugshots websites. Prevent search engines to list these sites.

The commercial exploitation of arrest and conviction records makes it all but impossible for someone with a criminal record to leave the past behind. Employers, banks, college admissions officers and landlords, among others, routinely check records online. The information doesn't typically describe what happened next.

Exacerbating the situation are for-profit websites and other background-check businesses that assemble publicly available arrest records, often including mug shots and charges. Many sites charge fees to remove a record, even an outdated or erroneous one.

In some instances, arrest information is forwarded to the FBI but not necessarily updated there when a case is thrown out locally. Only half of the records with the FBI have fully up-to-date information.

Please read more…

http://www.wsj.com/articles/as-arrest-records-rise-americans-find-consequences-can-last-a-lifetime-1408415402​

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/02/opinion/neighly-fbi-background-checks/​

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/08/19/permanent-record-how-arrests-stick-with-tens-of-millions-of-americans/