GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

by Ruth A. Sheets

Today I went through a process teachers all over Pennsylvania and possibly other states go through every five years.  I was fingerprinted.  Had I committed any crime?  No!  Was I under suspicion of having committed a crime?  Yes!  It appears every teacher and other adult who works with children is considered a criminal until proven, what, guilty?  It must be guilty because the process is repeated over and over, hoping to find something.  This FBI fingerprinting is in addition to a “Child Abuse Check” (back 45 years), and a criminal records check (presumably for one’s whole life).

You would think this process is to protect children, but how would you know.  Once this kind of invasion of privacy is in place, does anyone go back to find out if children are safer because of the checks?  Are the people being accused by criminal or child abuse checks actually criminals?  To further this ridiculous procedure, we, the accused must pay for the privilege.

It is possible to imagine that a company, organization, government agency or other place of employment or of volunteers might want to find out if a prospective candidate for a job or opening of some sort, has a criminal record.  A basic criminal check through the state should take care of that, and if work is with kids, maybe a child abuse check.  But what could possibly be the purpose of repeating the checks once a person has the job?

I mentioned to my “handler” today that I had my fingerprints taken in 1981 so I couldn’t see why I should have to have it done again.  He told me only criminals had their fingerprints taken back then.  I corrected him that I had worked for the Government.  I never did get an answer as he is not from the FBI himself but a contractor, a semi-government job.  I mentioned that I had also had fingerprints done when I started working for the district and 5 years ago, so what was the purpose?  He told me it’s the way it is done.  OK, my question, is the FBI so incompetent it can’t keep fingerprint records for 40 years, for 25 years, more than 5 years? 

Since returning home this afternoon, I have been thinking about this whole process of assumption of guilt, the knee-jerk reaction to learning that some small number of people who work with children are unworthy of the privilege and responsibility.   There have been people who have abused kids (although these are mostly parents and guardians), and there have been some church-related and Boy Scout abusers, but who is mostly targeted with these 5-year interval sweeps?  It is mostly women, often lower-paid persons and people of color.  White men who run corporations who make products that are really harmful to kids are not fingerprinted or given a child abuse check. 

When I first learned we would have to do this whole process again, I remember commenting that if any of us teachers were actually criminals, it would be all over the news.  Our picture would be plastered everywhere and we would be hauled off to prison right in front of our students and the cameras, if possible.  That’s how it’s done.  There would be no midnight sneak arrests and we would never be able to get a job teaching or working with children again (or any other job for that matter).  A few times a year, we hear about a teacher somewhere in the country doing something completely criminal like sexually abusing children (usually by coaches)or chemistry teachers running meth labs (Oh wait that’s only on TV).  I am curious if any of the actual criminals are caught through the child abuse and criminal checks or FBI fingerprinting.  Good old investigation on the part of law enforcement and school officials usually does the trick. 

So, what is really going on here?  I suspect it is a lot of things.  It is a form of intimidation.  You’d better be a good little boy or girl around those kiddies or we’ll get you.  It is also a source of income.  Each procedure costs and the total is more than $50 and with as many people as have to go through this, the money can be substantial.  At least, it covers the cost of the workers who have to do the checking (job creation hurray!).  It also keeps districts calm, thinking they’ll be less likely to be sued because of actions on the part of their intimidated teachers and staff.  Pretty neat huh?

This is just one piece of the law enforcement maze we all find ourselves in.  We as a society have nearly forgotten the “innocent until proven guilty” aspect of what justice is supposed to be.  We watch on the news feeds Black men murdered by police because “They must be guilty of something, right?”  Then we do not hold the murderers accountable because well, they were just defending themselves, right?

Donald Trump is allowed to send in federal somethings to cities to “stop riots.”  They shoot at peaceful protesters because, if Black Lives Matter, a lot of what passes for law enforcement will be properly labeled crime and prosecuted.  If all protesters are declared guilty of something, it won’t matter what is done to them, short of murder, but that is not always off the table either.

It seems conservatives in power are so fearful they will lose the life that keeps them comfortable  and able to look down on all those  pathetic users, they must see everyone as guilty of something so they can forcefully if necessary keep those people in the place predetermined by conservatives.  That place, of course, is beneath any spot held by the rich, mostly whites or white look-alikes (they occasionally allow a few groups once seen as non-white into their august assembly – Italians, Irish, some South Asian Indians, some well-behaved Jews). 

In another sector, we have people accused of crimes being threatened into taking plea bargains even when they did not commit the crime, even when evidence is so thin it would never hold up in an honest court.  These folks, again, the most vulnerable, often cannot afford a lawyer (and why should they have to afford one if they are innocent), so perhaps one is assigned to them, one who has a thousand other clients to see to.  The D.A. or its minions say, well if you go to court, the jury will probably give you 20 years, but if you plead guilty, we can give you just five with some parole.  That is insane, but there are a high and growing number of cases that are handled this way.  Then, people are arrested, accused of something, but can’t afford bail.  They may or may not have committed a crime, but many people pay, so bail brings in a lot of cash and most governments keep it going.  Those who can’t pay are herded into jails under appalling conditions for nothing but suspicion – guilty until proven guilty, and most will be proven guilty because that’s how the system works if you’re the right color and income level.  

If any of this is to change, we must change our whole perspective.  We must constantly call for ending the guilty until proven guilty mind set.  A very small proportion of Americans has committed a crime of any kind more serious than speeding, j-walking, or stealing a candy bar.  To live as if whole communities are guilty of something is madness and extremely destructive.  We need to begin dismantling the “guilt system.”  We can do it by stopping paid unpaid bail incarceration of non-violent criminals.  We can employ more public defenders so plea bargains don’t imprison the innocent and over imprison the guilty.  We can work to restructure the system of law enforcement to something more humane and equitable, more just.

We can put an end to the recurring criminal, child abuse checks, and FBI fingerprinting assumptions of guilt.  We can dump the stupid line “if it saves one life . . . “  Once through the process is more than enough.  The vast number of people who work with kids are guilty of nothing worse than wanting to care for and share with, even giving their lives for  the next generation.