The Justice Tech Download: Digital Criminal Records

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In Class
This week we are talking about the digitization of criminal records. The big question for us is whether or not expungement's utility can coexist with the internet. We assigned Eumi Lee's new Rutgers Law Review article, Monetizing Shame: Mugshots, Privacy, and the Right to Access. We also use the California Attorney General's court filings from the recent arrest and extradition of the Mugshots.com owners.

In the News
Speaking of digital criminal records, posting mugshots is web-traffic gold to smaller news publications, but the practice's ethics are in question. (Columbia Journalism Review)

It's election week! Here's a run down of criminal justice ballot measures from around the country. (Marshall Project)

Police in Spain are using machine learning and text analysis to supposedly find false robbery reports. (Quartz)

NYPD body cams are catching on fire, leading the department to withdraw 3,000 of the cameras from use. (Atlantic)

A federal judge is making a Memphis, Tenn. police department train on how to monitor social media after the department was found setting up a fake Facebook page to spy on Black Lives Matter protestors. (Bloomberg) (H/T Keith Porcaro)