Why some US newspapers are deleting old crime stories

Civil rights advocates across US have long fought to help individuals clear their criminal records, with efforts to expunge old cases and protect privacy during job and housing applications. This was crucial since more than 70 million Americans—roughly one in three adults—have prior arrests or convictions. However, the efforts have not fully addressed the impact of outdated media coverage, which can often become a long-lasting barrier to moving forward.

In response, several local newspapers across the country have started reviewing their archives to grant requests for removing or altering old crime stories, particularly for individuals involved in minor offenses, according to a report in The Guardian.

These programs aim to protect the privacy of those affected, ensuring that past mistakes do not continue to define their future.

Chris Quinn, editor of Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, who initiated a “right-to-be-forgotten” experiment in 2018, recognized the harm caused by persistent online stories. “People would say: ‘Your story is wrecking my life. ” I made a mistake, but … I’ve changed my life,’” Quinn told Guardian. His experiment, which was motivated by numerous inquiries from individuals seeking the removal of old crime coverage, broke from media traditions that were long hesitant to retract or modify past stories.

Quinn’s approach was inspired by a case involving a teenager who had damaged a cemetery monument while drunk years prior and struggled to move on after his conviction was widely covered. Despite the incident being minor, the teenager’s criminal record—and the public coverage of it—remained a constant obstacle. Quinn granted the request to remove his name, setting a precedent that would lead to further policy development.

The Cleveland newsroom developed specific parameters for cases eligible for removal, including excluding violent crimes, sex offenses, corruption, or crimes involving children, the report said.

The policy required that the offense had occurred at least four years ago, though exceptions were sometimes made. The guiding principle, Quinn said, was to weigh the value of a story’s availability against the importance of allowing individuals to move on with their lives.

This initiative has since spread to several major news outlets, including The Boston Globe, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Bangor Daily News, The Oregonian, and New Jersey’s NJ.com. The movement gained momentum after the 2020 racial justice protests, prompting newsrooms across the country to reflect on their role in perpetuating biased and harmful media coverage, particularly in cases involving mugshots.

At The Oregonian, editor Therese Bottomly launched a clean slate program in 2021 after recognizing the negative effects of minor, hyperlocal crime stories. The newspaper began offering several options to erase the lasting impact of such coverage: removing mugshots, deleting stories entirely, or deindexing articles from search engines to prevent them from easily surfacing in web searches. Requests are carefully reviewed, with verification that the individual has completed court requirements and demonstrated positive change.

In one case, a man whose article about a non-violent conviction had been published nearly a decade earlier appealed for removal. The subject, who had since turned his life around, feared that a simple Google search of his name would undo all of his hard work. “I can now take pride in saying my life is unrecognizable from the one written about in the OregonLive article,” he wrote in his request. His story was eventually removed.

In total, The Oregonian has approved 56 requests for deletion, partially approved 11, and denied 29. The program has helped reduce the long-lasting impact of past mistakes for many, offering them a real opportunity for redemption and reintegration into society.

Bottomly emphasized that many individuals currently in prison will eventually be released and will re-enter society as neighbours and coworkers. She questioned whether it was fair to allow minor, past offenses to create unnecessary barriers for their reintegration. “Should we figure out ways to at least not be an unnecessary barrier to re-entry for something truly minor and in the past, and for which somebody has paid their debt?” she asked.

The programs have prompted newsrooms to be more thoughtful in their current coverage, encouraging editors to leave names out when not relevant and reconsider the potential harm caused by crime-related photos.

Saun Hough, partnerships director at Californians for Safety and Justice, a group that advocates for mass expungements, noted that crime stories often fail to provide context about a person’s struggles or traumas, and that early arrests may later be adjudicated differently. “It creates this constant sense of anxiety that many people live with,” Hough explained. “You have this thought in your mind that you’re one Google search away from everything being ripped away.”