A criminal record indeed can be a serious handicap, but denying the public access to the criminal history of potential employees, tenants, roommates, romantic partners, and service providers would be dangerous and unjust. People are entitled to make their own judgments on the people they would closely associate with, and people should be able to know what the government knows about those people.
Chris Powell
Chris Powell contributed this unpaid opinion as part of a program to provide Connecticut Mirror readers a forum for addressing public policy issues.