Legal Research

Gov Doyle Weighs-in on CCAP Access

Governor Jim Doyle addressed CCAP access last week at the Wisconsin Newspaper Association's annual convention.

From the Wisconsin Law Journal:

Judges should decide whether to erase innocent people's cases from online court records, Gov. Jim Doyle said....[adding that] easily accessible electronic records make life a nightmare for people who are charged but later exonerated. The governor's remarks come after an Assembly committee approved a bill that would allow the public to see online records of court cases only where there has been a conviction.

The bill's main sponsor, Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, argues that the mere mention of people in the state's online court database carries a connotation of guilt and can ruin their reputations forever, costing them jobs and housing.

Doyle, a Democrat, said Schneider's bill goes too far but "for those really innocent people ... we have to figure out a way to protect them."

Full post as published by WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library on February 16, 2010 (boomark / email).