16
Opinion of the Court
ing. It is purely a matter of speculation whether such an appearance will ever occur. See O'Shea, supra, at 496-497. Moreover, as to the possibility that petitioner (or a witness appearing on his behalf) would be impeached with the parole revocation, it is far from certain that a prosecutor or examining counsel would decide to use the parole revocation (a "discretionary decision" similar to those of the sentencing judge and employer discussed in Lane, supra, at 632-633); and, if so, whether the presiding judge would admit it, particularly in light of the far more reliable evidence of two past criminal convictions that would achieve the same purpose of impeachment, see State v. Comstock, 647 S. W. 2d 163, 165 (Mo. App. 1983). Indeed, it is not even clear that a Missouri court could legally admit the parole revocation to impeach petitioner. See State v. Newman, 568 S. W. 2d 276, 278-282 (Mo. App. 1978). And as to the possibility that the parole revocation could be used directly against petitioner should he be the object of a criminal prosecution, it is at least as likely that the conduct underlying the revocation, rather than the revocation itself (which does not recite the specific conduct constituting the parole violation) would be used.8
fenses of sexual assault is admissible, and may be considered for its bearing on any matter to which it is relevant."
8 The dissent asserts that "a finding that an individual has committed a serious felony" renders the "interest in vindicating . . . reputation . . . constitutionally [s]ufficient" to avoid mootness. Post, at 23, 24. We have obviously not regarded it as sufficient in the past—even when the finding was not that of a parole board, but the much more solemn condemnation of a full-dress criminal conviction. For that would have rendered entirely unnecessary the inquiry into concrete collateral consequences of conviction in many of our cases, see, e. g., Benton v. Maryland, 395 U. S. 784, 790-791 (1969); Carafas v. LaVallee, 391 U. S. 234, 237-238 (1968); Fiswick, 329 U. S., at 220-222, and unnecessary as well (at least as to felony convictions) Sibron's presumption of collateral consequences, see supra, at 8-10. Of course there is no reason in principle for limiting the dissent's novel theory to felonies: If constitutionally adequate damage to reputation is produced by a parole board's finding of one more felony by a current inmate who
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