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Subscribe by EmailThat’s A Crime: Assessing The Accuracy of Criminal Record Databases
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Given all of the attention lately to criminal record checks, have you wondered how accurate the criminal record databases are?
There are two possible types of errors possible. One type of error is that someone is mistakenly listed as a criminal, when he or she has no such record. We’ll call that a false positive. The other possibility is that someone who is a criminal is listed determined to have no criminal record. We’ll call that a false negative.
A study (brought to my attention by interbiznet.com) conducted in the late 1990s’ of the Interstate Identification Index system, a major listing of criminals, found the following results:
name checking produced 11.7% false negatives and 5.5% false positives. In other words, of over 10,600 people found to have a criminal record using a finger-printing technique (assumed to be completely accurate), the name check search showed that over 1,200 did not have a record (false negatives).
Of the 82,000+ who were determined by the finger-printing approach to not have a criminal record (assumed to be completely accurate), over 4,500 were indicated as having a criminal record (false positives).
Based on these results, changes have been made in criminal databases, yet the report notes that
the use of fingerprints, though more accurate, does have privacy and logistic problems associated with it.
Read the whole report on accuracy of criminal records, but it is rather dense reading.
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Criminal record chekcs are such a headache! The’ll just have to come up with a better way to manage the system because a false record can really hurt a person’s reputation and status. If one does have a record, its best to get a pardon or expunge/remove the record so that they can be relieved from consequences and disabilities.