Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

Legality of your arrest record

It would seem to me that it is a violation of due process to keep arrests that were dropped, not pursued, found not guilty on your permanent, public record. Isn�t this a violation of the consititution? Arent we innocent until proven guilty? Why should it affect us if the police illegally arrested someone? Or even if the court decides it has no evidence to even pursue certain charges? I apologize if this seems like its just ranting, but I am seriously considering a Supreme Court injunction to challenge the legality of having arrest records follow you through employment, housing checks and was wondering if it would even be possible? Has it happened before? Would it be possible for the law to change on this? I find it hard to believe we are innocent until proven guilty if we are declared innocent of something and be denied for top dollar jobs because of an unjust arrest. That doesn�t seem neither civil or constitutional.

What are your ideas on the matter?


Asked on 1/25/08, 6:32 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Brent Rose The Orsini & Rose Law Firm

Re: Legality of your arrest record

I think the idea is that, since the record will show "Dismissed" or "Not guilty," there is nothing on the record that is harmful. Still, you may have a point. Obviously, anyone seeing a bunch of "Dismissed"s on a record will think, "Where there's smoke there's fire."

I'm not familiar with any constitutional challenges in any court, but I didn't do any research to be certain, so there is a small chance I could be unaware of something. There could be a due process violation here.

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Answered on 1/27/08, 10:41 pm


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