As an attorney for the Center for Student Legal Services, I am distressed that The Post apparently has a policy of printing the names of students who become defendants on some misdemeanor charges. In particular, the recent article, Counterfeit IDs leading to student arrests
serves to blow a minor matter out of proportion and, much worse, results in the named defendants being forever linked to your article through the Internet.
When their cases are resolved, most defendants who are first -time offenders, petition the court for expungement or sealing of their court records. If granted, a defendant who has made a mistake is given the opportunity to start over without having a first-time conviction drag him down.
Your publication of student names perverts the process by ensuring that the matter can never be sealed and will be available to all potential employers in perpetuity. Of course, it is much worse for those defendants who are found innocent as that is rarely published. I strongly urge you to reconsider your policy of publishing names of student defendants. Mere freedom of the press should not be used as an instrument to cause unnecessary harm to other Ohio University students.
Patrick McGee is the managing attorney at the Center for Student Legal Services. 4
Opinion
Letter to the Editor
