The "whole person concept" is a paradigm used by government agencies that adjudicate security clearances, fingerprint checks, and background checks, to determine whether or not a person is suitable for approval.  These include the federal government and the Arizona Board of Fingerprinting.  Basically, this "rule" indicates that the "whole person" should be considered when determining whether or not a person poses an unacceptable security or safety risk.

Although the whole person concept generally does not factor into an initial application -- there, your application, submitted materials, references, and investigation results control -- it does play an important role in appealing a denial or revocation of a clearance.  Basically, if some detrimental information or disqualifying incident pops up, which would otherwise deny you clearance, positive factors may be taken into account to overcome the presumption of disqualification.

Essentially, there are two types of positive factors that can help you.  The first includes factors that mitigate the seriousness of negative conduct.  For example, if your background reveals that you have been convicted of shoplifting, this could result in disqualification and denial of a clearance.  But if you can demonstrate that you paid full restitution to the store, were only 19 years old at the time, played only a minor role in the incident, and the conviction was set aside by the judge after you completed your probation early, then the effect of the conviction may be minimized, and your application may be approved.

The second type of positive "whole person" factor includes anything that demonstrates your trustworthiness, diligence, dedication to the community or country, or overall good character.  These factors can indirectly minimize the negative impact of a black mark on your record.  Things like participation in civic, charitable, religious, or educational organizations can demonstrate good character and involvement in the community.  Awards and achievements for excellent job or academic performance can show your diligence and trustworthiness.  Recommendations from distinguished and highly-regarded professionals can bolster your character.  Basically, produce anything that gives an affirmative answer to the question, "Can we trust this person?"  


While it is better to avoid any blemishes on your record, having evidence to demonstrate that a black mark is an anomaly, and not a personality characteristic, will help you.  Thus, if you want your future to include work that requires scrutiny of your past, you should take action to burnish your present. Besides, it just feels good to do something positive!

If you are unfortunate enough to have a criminal conviction in Arizona, you should seek to set that conviction aside as soon as you possibly can.  While this will not "expunge" the conviction from your record (which will, thanks to computer storage capacity, exist practically forever), setting aside the conviction will improve your record.

Setting aside a conviction results in the charges being "dismissed," which indicates that the judge has reviewed your case and determined that setting aside the conviction is appropriate.  Please note that this is not necessarily the same thing as restoring your civil liberties, which often requires a separate application -- though by its terms, a set-aside results in the person being "released from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the conviction," with a few exceptions.  Still, it is the better practice to apply for both.  (Doing so will be the subject of a future post.)

If the judge grants your application, this does not mean that the conviction disappears.  As noted above, the case record can still appear if someone searches for it, and some court records show up on Google searches.  Thus, if you apply for a job after having a conviction set aside, and the application asks if you have ever been convicted of a criminal offense, the best answer is something like, "Yes, BUT the conviction was set aside."  DO NOT claim that you have not ever been convicted -- such dishonesty will likely cost you the job, and if you are applying for a government job, may result in further prosecution.

The statute governing set-asides in Arizona is A.R.S. section 13-907.