[lazaroclapp]

Doesn't 'sealed' imply that is retrievable, just not under most circumstances? As opposed to expunged. As I understand it, a court order can allow certain parties to access a 'sealed' record as part of different investigation in the future. It's just that your employer doesn't get to see the whole thing every time they run a background check on you.

Why there isn't a proper threshold cryptosystem and chain of custody of keys for sealed records? Well, that's a different question. The answer is probably along the lines of "the justice system doesn't get tech" or "the people who could demand this don't know about it or don't care enough" or even "thus far the implementation has worked ok...".

[kevin_thibedeau]

Law databases aren't much past the sophistication of Dbase. Strong access controls and encryption are hopeless.

[lazaroclapp]

Yeah, I know. Still, it is interesting how when it comes to catching suspected criminals everything is relatively high-tech: optical license plate recognition, fake cell towers, biometrics, drones, etc. Yet when it comes to protecting civil rights, any solution that is newer than the bill of rights itself is suspiciously absent.

[pc86]

Even expunged records can still be accessed by military and intelligence agencies. At a local (sometimes state) level, once an expungement order is processed the record is physically shredded, usually along with the expungement order itself. Federally the records are marked as expunged but it makes sense that if you're joining the military or applying for a job with an intelligence agency, that they should know about the court interaction, expunged or otherwise.