Privacy, Criminal Records and Employment. Should punishment extend beyond what court has already imposed?

Research Paper from the year 2008 in the subject Information Management, grade: Commendation Receiver, London School of Economics, language: English, abstract: An individual's entitlement to privacy is considered a pivotal human right that is recognised by United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in many other international and regional treaties. However, notwithstanding that nearly every country in the world recognises a right of privacy explicitly in their Constitution, of all the human rights in the international catalogue, privacy is perhaps the most difficult to circumscribe and define. Debates surrounding the trade-off between personal privacy and the protection of the wider society are commonplace. This research paper will consider this debate in the specific context of an individuals' criminal record. It is acknowledged that a criminal record can, officially or unofficially, result in collateral consequences for ex-offenders including the deprivation of opportunities such as public housing, student financial aid, welfare benefits, voting rights, and employment. This is contrary to the aims of organisations such as the 'National Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders' that advocate for the rehabilitation of ex-offenders through channels such as recruitment. Although there is a need for greater study of repeat offences rate, a number of studies have argued that an individual with previous criminal convictions is more likely to repeat and/or commit a crime than an individual with no criminal convictions. In short therefore, this paper examines the subject of an individual's criminal record in the context of equal employment opportunities with respect to the individual's right to privacy.