“…The nature and quality of this connection may be particularly important, as Goffman (1963: 30) describes, because “[t]he problems faced by stigmatized persons spread out in waves, but of diminishing intensity.” Though online arrest records presumably impact all of the approximately 10–11 million arrestees per year in the United States (BJS, 2017; FBI, 2016), there has been little empirical work or public discourse on this issue (though there has been some media coverage; see, e.g. Fields and Emshwiller, 2014; Fleshler, 2014; Goode, 2011; Segal, 2013; Stelloh, 2017). Thus, direct contact with an arrested person may be an important predictor in shaping one’s views of policies that allow access to arrest records.…”