Last week, City Councilor Chuck Turner was arrested during a sit-in at the Department of Public Health to protest the department’s tightening of its regulations barring people with criminal records from working in the state’s human-services agencies. The policy was enacted in 1996 to prevent people with extensive criminal records — particularly those with child-abuse convictions — from becoming foster parents. But it quickly fell victim to the law of unintended consequences: alcoholics who committed crimes while actively drinking but are now sober, for instance, cannot counsel those in recovery. The Phoenix wrote about this issue two years ago [“Addicted to Punishment,” News and Features, July 1, 1999]. To read it, visit http://boston-dev.wfnx.net/archive/features/99/07/01/recovery.html.