Crime Data, the Internet, and Free Speech: An Evolving Legal Consciousness

Digitization and open access to governmental data have made criminal justice information incredibly easy to access and disseminate. This study asks how law should govern access to criminal histories on the Internet. Drawing upon interviews with crime website publishers and subjects who have appeared...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Law & society review 2017-03, Vol.51 (1), p.8-41
Main Author: Lageson, Sarah Esther
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Arrest
Arrests
Consciousness
Crime
Criminal justice
Criminal law
Criminal records
Digitization
Disclosure
Federal court decisions
Government agencies
Inequality
Internet
Internet access
Judicial system
Justice
Law
Privacy
Speech
Transparency
Websites
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Summary:Digitization and open access to governmental data have made criminal justice information incredibly easy to access and disseminate. This study asks how law should govern access to criminal histories on the Internet. Drawing upon interviews with crime website publishers and subjects who have appeared on websites, I use legal consciousness theory to show how social actors interpret, construct, and invoke law in a nascent and unregulated area. The analysis reveals how both parties construct legality in the absence of positive legal restrictions: Website publishers use legal justifications, while those appealing to have their online record cleared resort to personal pleas, as opposed to legal remedy. Ultimately, I show how current data practices reinforce structural inequalities already present in criminal justice institutions in a profoundly public manner, leaving website subjects with little recourse and an inescapable digital trail.
ISSN:0023-9216
1540-5893
DOI:10.1111/lasr.12253