On Record: Files and Dossiers in American Life

On Record provides descriptive accounts of record-keeping in a variety of important organizations: schools and universities; consumer credit agencies, general business organizations, and life insurance companies; military and security agencies; the Census Bureau and the Social Security Administration; public welfare agencies, juvenile courts, and mental hospitals. It also examines the legal status of records. The authors address questions such as: Who determines what records are kept? Who has access to the records? To what extent do the records follow an individual? What are some of the dangers and pitfalls in record-keeping? Throughout the volume, the authors show a concern for an appropriate balance between the need for information about people and protection against undue invasions of privacy. The introduction of electronic databases since the original publication of this book makes the issues raised in this seminal collection even more timely.

Table of Contents:
Contents Acknowledgments The Contributors I. Introduction 1. Problems and Issues in Record-Keeping Stanton Wheeler The Scope of This Volume Themes and Variations in Record-Keeping The Policy Issues II. Educational Institutions 2. Record-Keeping in Elementary and Secondary Schools David A. Goslin and Nancy Bordier American Education and Educational Records The Historical Development of Record-Keeping Procedures Current Practices Trends and Future Prospects Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues 3. The Dossier in Colleges and Universities Burton R. Clark The Scope of Record-Keeping The Primary Central Records The Varieties of Location and Style The Varieties of Confidence Use of the Final Record after College The Problem of Anticipation 4. Information-Flow within the Professions: Some Selective Comparisons of Law, Medicine, and Nursing Rodolfo Alvarez and Wilbert E. Moore The Profession of Medicine The Professions of Law and Nursing: General Comparisons to Medicine General Comparisons among the Professions Summary III. Economic Institutions 5. The Dossier in Consumer Credit James Rule, David Caplovitz, and Pierce Barker How Credit Reporting Works How Should Credit Reporting Work? Future Trends and Issues 6. Record-Keeping and Corporate Employees Ivar Berg and James Salvate Sources of Information on Managers Records on Nonmanagerial Personnel Disclosure of Information on Employees Implications and Issues in the Use of Corporate Dossiers Conclusions 7. Personal Information in Insurance Files H. Laurence Ross Life Insurance Underwriting Personal Information in Other Types of Insurance IV. Governmental Institutions 8. Government Records: The Census Bureau and the Social Security Administration Joseph Steinberg Federal Data Collection The Bureau of the Census The Social Security Administration Government Statistics—A Coordinated System 9. The Dossier in Military Organization Roger W. Little Forms of Military Dossiers Disposition of Records Issues and Implications 10. Security Investigations Jesse Orlansky Federal Personnel Clearance Programs The Investigative Procedure Denial of Clearance Privacy of Information in Dossiers Appendixes V. Welfare Institutions 11. Record-Keeping and the Intake Process in a Public Welfare Agency Don H. Zimmerman The Setting and Its Tasks Reception The Intake Investigation Documents as Objective and Factual Accounts Concluding Remarks 12. Records in the Juvenile Court Edwin M. Lemert Purposes of Juvenile Court Records Police and Juvenile Delinquency Records Making and Using Juvenile Court Records Consequences of Juvenile Court Records Dossiers and the "Law Explosion" 13. Case Records in the Mental Hospital Kai T. Erikson and Daniel E. Gilbertson Record-Processing The Patient Issues of Confidentiality VI. The Law 14. Legal Control of the Dossier Abraham S. Goldstein The Direct Inquiry: Questions to A by B The Indirect Inquiry: Getting Information from B about A Getting Information about A from the Government Striking the Balance Index

About the Author :
Stanton Wheeler (1930-2007) was Ford Foundation Professor Emeritus of Law and the Social Sciences and professorial lecturer in law at Yale Law School, USA. He was widely recognized for his leadership in integrating law and social science and was best known for his work in the fields of white-collar crimes and prison systems. He authored ten books including Social Science in the Making, Sitting in Judgment, and Crimes of the Middle Classes.