Arrest for possession vs. employment and law school apps

captainballs

captainballs

Bluelighter
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Sep 21, 2004
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Hi, I'm a finance major and I was recently arrested for possession, paraphanelia, and public intoxication.

Tomorrow, there is going to be a job fair, and some of my top picks are going to be there. Should I stay away until I can secure dismissal and expungement? I don't want to get my hopes up by interviewing with a good consulting firm only for them to do their background check and then throw my resume in the trash.

Would it be reasonable to even apply for not-so-hot internships? Or should I just not waste my time?

Currently, the last company I worked for (and received an offer from) is not even returning my emails, so I pretty much get the picture... even though they acted more than happy to let me work for them whenever I was in town for any period of time. So bye bye that company apparently :\

Also, I'm going to need to write a killer addendum (obviously) when applying to all of the law schools I'm lookinh at for 08. Or should I put that off too?
 
as far as law school is concerned:

Were you arrested or convicted for these crimes? Have the charges been expunged? Some law school apps will only ask for convictions. Others want to know about arrests. Regardless, it is very important that you disclose whatever the application asks for. Misrepresenting a criminal record will come back to bite you in the ass when you are applying for admission to the bar. This is one of the greatest sources for "character fitness" failure.
 
AFAIK, only convictions - not arrests - show up in background checks.

So I'd try very hard to get something if you can, as soon as possible (in the event you get convicted eventually). See if you can get the charges knocked down to some more harmless-looking misdemeanor.

And don't worry about law school applications. I think it's only a problem for trying to get federal financial aid, and you're convicted of a drug crime (probably a felony, but I'm not sure).
 
I'm not copping out on any of the charges. They're all misdemeanor charges already, however. I will get them dismissed, and hopefully expunged soon...

...of course I know for a fact that background checks in the U.S. for certain types of jobs will take into account arrests... but is is a sort of consolation that law school apps won't care.
 
Considering your major I'd say it's really imporant you don't get convicted of anything. An arrest shouldn't effect you that much. Innocent until proven guilty. If you aren't proven guilty then obviously you never did anything wrong did you?

Just try to get this resolved as soon as possible. I wouldn't apply with anyone right now if it was me. Do you really want to be in an interview or something and at some point have to tell them you kind of got arrested and have to go to court but you totally didn't do it and are going to win? Don't even try that, just be patient.
 
i tried to be patient, but i went to the career fair anyways and handed out my resumes. they won't ask for a background release form for at least one interview...
 
captainballs said:
...of course I know for a fact that background checks in the U.S. for certain types of jobs will take into account arrests...
Click to expand...

How do they find out about them?

Do you mean they *ask* you whether you've been arrested?
 
Of course that's not what I meant... most people that have been halfway around the block realize that it is illegal for a company to ask you if you've ever been arrested.

Nonetheless, once you give them consent to do a "department of defense background check" (which covers everything from your credit score to your arrest record), the fact that they can't ask you that on your application or in your interview becomes largely irrelevant.

I personally know an IT guy who handles new hires, and if that background check reveals an arrest for anything serious (i.e. drugs, including weed, or even worse a DWI), he will press the delete button on all of you r personal information, and your resume goes into the trash, no matter if you have a grreat sense of humor and a 4.0.
 
I'm a little confused here too. Arrests mean you were detained for some reason. Charges don't even necessarily have to be filed, so where would "arrests without charges or convictions" ever show up?

On job applications they ask for convictions or "have you ever plead 'no contest'?" to filed charges. It seems to me that you should consider filling out as many applications as you can because you can still honestly say you don't have any convictions.

If in fact your pending legal issues don't go your way, you still haven't been dishonest because they were unresolved when you filed your applications. I mean, are they even allowed to simply ask if you've been arrested because that could mean a cop told you to sit in the back of his car for five minutes?
 
Read my post above. Besides, it's not like I was just detained. I was charged. No convictions doesn't mean much behind closed doors, when HR is looking at a very thorough and revealing background check....
 
captainballs said:
Of course that's not what I meant... most people that have been halfway around the block realize that it is illegal for a company to ask you if you've ever been arrested.
Click to expand...

Is this true, captainballs? If so, where would the law be? In state labor statutes? Then it could vary between states. Federal law? Typically, that would cover disciminatory labor practices, but arrestees - even if they were never convicted - are not a protected class. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I would like to know whether you're right.

When you apply for the California state Bar (i.e., to get your license to practice law), they ask you about every run-in with the law, including traffic tickets. I don't remember, but I think they ask you whether you've been arrested and the details behind each arrest. While private employers are typically not as thorough, I don't see why they can't ask the same thing. What about employers of bonded employees such as armored guards?
 
But you are right - an employer will never ask you to your face if you've been arrested... you are not legally required to answer that question, and the employer is actually putting him/herself at risk if he/she ever does blurt out that question (I think).
 
Johnny 1, Law school is a whole other ballpark than employment. Yes, any arrests, tickets, etc. must be documented in many cases (depending on the state of bar exam/law school admission). My law school prep book says to write an addendum explaining any arrests, among other things.

As far as it being illegal for an employer to ask, that may or may not be true. What is true, however, at least in Texas, is that you are legally protected from having to answer that question.
 
Some state governments have begun making pre-conviction records more accesible, much to the chagrin of civil libertarians. I haven't researched this extensively, but below is a news article (not legal advise, obviously) that discusses the changes in Pennsylvania and other states:

Be advised, say employment attorneys and privacy advocates: With new rules allowing the public instant online access to your Pennsylvania court records, that youthful indiscretion or mistaken arrest may no longer be relegated to dusty file folders in your county courthouse, forgotten and, for all practical purposes, invisible.

Instead, such information is just a few keystrokes away from any potential employer, landlord, or simply curious person with Internet access and a hankering to perform a do-it-yourself background check...

...According to Ms. Dietrich, it is illegal in Pennsylvania to discriminate against a job applicant based on charges that were later dropped, or an arrest that never resulted in a conviction, but it still happens.

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/06352/747036-85.stm
 
^^That about sums up the whole issue I'm faced with. Behind closed doors, what would you after looking at a potential employee's arrest record and finding something less than savory?

No conviction/guilty plea/no contest doesn't really matter in this environment, behind closed doors. Especially with drug arrests... :\

In Texas, I don't think we have that.... but we do have something that is essentially the same thig except you have to sign off on it first before they can do it (I'm referring to the background check discussed in my earlier posts). So yeah, same thing, it's just more user-friendly and quicker in Penn.
 
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Looks like the availability of arrest records varies from state to state, but I'm not at all surprised to hear that Texas isn't #1 in the privacy area.

Still, I say you should move full steam ahead anyway. It will take too long to get dismissal and expunge your record, assuming you can actually do that.

Think of it this way: If you apply, there's some chance they'll find out, and decide not to hire you. But if you don't apply, there's absolutely zero chance they'll hire you now, and only a somewhat greater-than-zero chance they'll hire you later.
 
Already on the ball, but your response makes me feel good about having handed many resumes earlier tonight. :)
 
...and I won't jump to defend Texas so quickly, but I think that a credit check/in depth background check would happen no matter which state I decided to search for finance/consulting related work in. I mean, what seriously professional job doesn't ask you to sign a background information release consent form after you're being seriously considered?
 
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