We’re no longer naming suspects in minor crime stories
As a former felon, I&#x27;ve learned first-hand the fallout from being named in crime stories. The AP has it right in that a lot of it isn&#x27;t realized by readers or society.<p>Upon being charged with crimes, I had to make my way through the court system. As a consequence of my actions, the courts punished me. Once I had showed that I was not a serial offender but instead someone who had moments of weakness, lost identity, and subsequently poor judgement, the courts let me go.<p>Once I paid my debts to the court — figuratively and literally — I was free to live my life without the government watching over my shoulder or further being a burden to my future. My dealings with them had a fixed amount of time attached to it. Once that time limit expired, I was free.<p>Society was far less kind, and hardly as forgiving.<p>No, I&#x27;m not talking about employment — I am and always have been very gainfully employed. No, I&#x27;m not talking about renting an apartment, or getting a loan, or opening a bank account.<p>I&#x27;m talking about new acquaintances.<p>As we have seen over the past 5 years, in the minds of many a website is a single source of truth. To a large number of people, simply having a website is enough to give confidence to the reader that what&#x27;s written is an absolute and authoritative source. It is only correct, completely unbiased, and contains 100% factual sourcing.<p>When there&#x27;s a webpage with dirty laundry on it, it rarely gets updated to say &quot;later, Judge Judy found suspect to be of good character, and they&#x27;ve since paid their debts to the court.&quot;<p>No, it just has absolute worst moment on repeat, leaving out all the context and any depth that goes into a legal proceeding. It&#x27;s entirely the worst part of a nightmare.<p>I&#x27;ve personally had a number of articles written in addition to a 15-second segment on the local evening news. Getting a call from a partner who is sobbing, &quot;my parents Googled you.&quot; is absolutely stomach-turning. Knowing my little sister had to go to school the day after the clip played next day was something I am more ashamed about than I can put into words. Thankfully she was too young for a cell phone and social media was still in its infancy.<p>My partner very privy to my dirty laundry. When they first learned of it they were actually surprised. It didn&#x27;t bother them though as they knew who I was as a person and that my days of making mistakes were behind me.<p>Their parents were less understanding. They didn&#x27;t know me like my partner did. They just saw a series of mugshots and some local news articles from mistakes I made as a young adult.<p>It wasn&#x27;t the first and it wasn&#x27;t the last time it happened, either.<p>I have always been transparent and forthcoming with mistakes I&#x27;ve made. I&#x27;m just as candid with friends as I am here on HN. Hell, my profile even says I&#x27;m a former felon!<p>One point does not make a pattern. Many minor crime stories are just a point. That point, on the internet, is a scar, and those who come across them out of curiosity, suspicion, or nosiness re-open the wound.<p>Since my bad decisions, I&#x27;ve had success in contacting the authors of the articles highlighting my worst-moment-kept-in-a-non-governmental-database asking if they&#x27;d consider removing their article. I mentioned I had completed probation and was doing something with my life, and that the article was hurting me and my relationships with people. They obliged.<p>Edit: This isn&#x27;t the first time I&#x27;ve mentioned I&#x27;m a felon in a comment. I&#x27;ve received a surprising number of emails over the years from other felons (or felons-to-be) asking &quot;how did you reintegrate into society?&quot; or &quot;do you have any advice?&quot;. If you&#x27;re one of them and reading this, you&#x27;re more than welcome drop me an email.