Knowing when and who to share details of your criminal record with is very often a difficult decision to make, but even more so when you have been convicted of a sexual offence.
The only person Luca had spoken to about his conviction was his probation officer who’d told him that as he’d been convicted of a sexual offence, his conviction would never be spent and he would need to disclose it to any future employer forever.
Although he’d worked as a project manager prior to his conviction, Luca had only worked sporadically since, either for friends or in short term temporary jobs. The shame and embarrassment surrounding his conviction meant that he avoided applying for any jobs which mentioned DBS checks although he felt like there seemed to be less and less of these being advertised.
Luca had been using Unlock’s InformationHub site when he found out about the online forum. He became a member straight away and his first posts were about disclosure advice. It didn’t take long for forum members to start asking him for more details about when he’d received his conviction and what type of jobs he was applying for. Once it became clear that Luca’s conviction was spent and he was no longer on the Sex Offenders Register, members started suggesting that there was probably no need for him to disclose for the jobs he was applying for and that his conviction wouldn’t appear on a basic DBS check.
Luca states:
“When my probation officer told me that I’d always have to disclose my conviction I didn’t question it, why would I? It was only through talking with my peers on theForum that I came to realise that the advice I’d initially been given was wrong and that I didn’t need to disclose my spent convictions at all. I applied for my own basic DBS check just to be certain and, sure enough, it came back clear”.
Lessons
There is a lot of incorrect and misleading information about criminal records and sexual offences and due to the nature of the offence, people like Luca find it difficult to seek information and advice. Having seen for himself that his conviction is now spent will no doubt give Luca the confidence to apply for many future jobs he feels he’s qualified to do.
Links
- You can visit (and join) the online forum
Notes about this case study
This case study relates to our online forum.
Names and details have been changed to protect the identity of those involved.
