Kentucky drowning in records.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT - Brief article

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State archives and courthouses around Kentucky have been deluged by court records after the state's top court administrator ordered them to retain all records forever.

The edict came in April 2007, in response to widespread criticism over the Administrative Office of the Courts' disclosure that it had destroyed tens of thousands of misdemeanor and traffic records in Jefferson County that were five years old and older.

According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, prosecutors and probation officers complained the purge made it more difficult to prove an offender's past misconduct. And job applicants have said they are unable to prove that old charges were dropped. They are instead given a sheet of paper stating that misdemeanor cases and traffic charges and convictions prior to November 2001 have been destroyed.

A report from a panel appointed by former Chief Justice...