so does a night in county jail count as imprisonment?

[makenzie71]

never know whether to count that or not when I'm filling out applications.

[Mk1inCali]

Were you convicted of a crime, or just drunk-tank holding?


If the former, yes.  If the latter, I'd vote no.

[makenzie71]

no...no convictions or anything...managed a deferred sentence and had everything dropped.  I don't think it's important...I just always hit that question and thing "did that count?"

[genEricStL]

Nope ... I forgot to pay a seatbelt ticket before I moved , so i had to spend the night being shifted from one county to another ... i could've paid it where i was , but St Louis County said they'd already dispatched a transport - yeah right , it arrived like 6 hours later lol

[Mk1inCali]

Nah, you are cool.  Don't worry about it.

[RVertigo]

They ask if you've been Convicted of a crime... 

If your employer asks if you've been arrested, they don't know newer employent laws.

[natedawg120]

They ask if you've been Convicted of a crime... 

If your employer asks if you've been arrested, they don't know newer employent laws.

Yeah that is right, if you were convicted it counts.  Arrested is what they do when they think you have done something or are doing somthing, as in DUI, you don't get convicted till the court date.

[Jake D]

Generally, if you plea it to a deferment or an suspended sentence, it isn't a "conviction".  However, a lot of applications may ask about arrests rather than conviction.  That is trickier.   

[natedawg120]

I didn't think that they could ask about arrests.  I mean how can they hold an arrest against you if you were never really convicted of what they arrested you for?

[Jake D]

Sure they can.  Happens all the time.  Plenty of employers ask about arrests.  I was falsely arrested twice.  Once in college and once in law school.  I never was guilty of either crime and never convicted of either.  But I still got asked about it.  I still had to disclose them on my bar license application.  It really is just up to the employer what they want to ask. 

[spc]

I was asked about arrests, detainments, involvement in riots........the list goes on and on

[RVertigo]

Military, Security (Government and Private), and Law Enforcement (including some lawyers) are different. 

"Normal" employers are not supposed to ask about arrests, age, race/nationality, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, health issues (other than asking if you're capable of doing a physical job), and a few other things I can't recall.....


All employers can ask about convictions.
If your job requires driving, they can ask about your driving record.

[Jake D]

And the boards.  Don't forget boards.

[MrDan]

County = Jail ... State/Fed = prison .. so from purely a logic/rhetoric standpoint, I'd say that you were not imprisoned.