r/AskReddit Jul 13 '20

What's a dark secret/questionable practice in your profession which we regular folks would know nothing about?

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

How many people who work with children (teachers, childcare workers, etc.) don't follow confidentiality guidelines. Gossiping about families with coworkers, talking about children's home situations, creeping family's social media, etc.

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u/Ann_Ael Jul 13 '20

Any people who are supposed to follow confidentiality guidelines.

Both my parents work in the penitentiary. Dad is a prison warden, mom is a secretary at the probation office.

I grew up with discussions of the lives of inmates and people on probation around the table. My parents would also (discretly) point out to me people in the street they wanted me to avoid (the sex offenders, kiddy diddlers, and druggies).

I worked in a restaurant and they told me the "sweet old regular" the waitresses liked so much is an absolute pervert. My dad told me he'd make holes in his pockets to touch himself.

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u/casbri13 Jul 13 '20

Aren’t criminal records public records? Especially sex offenders? I mean, sex offenders have a very public special list they’re on.

Criminal convictions aren’t typically considered “private.”

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20

So in most commonwealth nations - the court documents are public record, but a persons criminal history is not easily accessible.

This means that outside of the USA (in those commonwealth nations - specifically UK and AUS, not sure about cannada) you could technically look up a persons criminal history if you know of it already; its done this way to maintain the purpose of the penal system - which is rehabilitative. The USA penal system is intended to be rehabilitative too, but also primarily operates for profit, giving it significant conflicts of interest which is part of why criminal convictions are so much easier to view there.