Monthly summary – July 2019

Welcome to our monthly update for July 2019.

This provides a summary of:

1. the latest updates to our self-help information site for people with convictions
2. recent posts to our online magazine, theRecord
3. discussions on our online forum
4. other news and developments that might be of interest to people with a criminal record.

Have you stumbled across this? You can receive these updates direct to your inbox every month for free by signing up to our mailing list (make sure you choose to receive ‘news for people with convictions’)

Updates to our information site

Here’s a summary of updates that we’ve made recently to theinformationhub. There are links within each update to where you can find more information about the update. There are also links next to many of the updates, which links to threads on our online forum where you can discuss these with other people with convictions.

Work and volunteering

• Exploring the hidden job market to find work – We’ve produced some new information on finding jobs which are not advertised in the usual way, often referred to as the hidden job market.

Information on the internet, online and through search engines like Google

• The ‘google-effect’ internet search results and the right to be forgotten – We’ve updated this page to reflect the fact that the online Google form which asks you to give reasons why your search results should be removed is limited to 1000 characters.

Travelling abroad

• Identifying whether your offence is a Crime Involving Moral Turpitude – As a result of feedback from users, we’ve made some changes to this page which hopefully make clearer the link between the questions on the ESTA form and Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude.

theRecord posts

Below are links to recent posts to our online magazine, theRecord. These are often linked to the practical information that we have, to help give some personal user experiences.

Struggles and stigma – I’ve worked hard to be part of a system that’s now holding me back – problems with the UK criminal record disclosure system – “As a young lad I was the class clown; the one that never went to class, never did my exams and eventually got expelled – it was classed as ‘early study leave’ at that time. With few qualifications I worked in factories for a while and then decided to go and work abroad for several months. I really enjoyed the time I spent overseas and I started to plan for all the things I was going to do in the future …..”

Success – The smartest thing I’ve learnt since my conviction is that I don’t need a man to be successful – “When I left school at the age of 18, I suppose I would have been described as a bit ‘geeky’ or naive. I’d never had a boyfriend, didn’t smoke or drink and thought ‘weed’ was just something that grew in the garden …..”

Success – Travelling to Thailand with a criminal record – You just Thai and stop me! – “Approximately 35 years ago I was convicted of a sexual offence and received a suspended prison sentence. The details of the offence are not really relevant to the story and I’m mindful that when you put something in writing it can look as though you’re trying to minimise what happened – I don’t want to do that. All I will say is that my life now is very, very different to how it was at the time of my conviction …..”

Discussions on our online forum

Below are links to recent posts to our online forum. If you’d like to join in the discussion but are not currently a forum member, find out how you can join here.

Has Schengen system changed? – Following a recent trip to Greece, Forever Changes wanted to know whether the Schengen rules had changed as his most recent experience had been very different to when he’d travelled to the EU previously. Please tell us about your own experiences?

Case study Gerry – Excessive interventions by the police and probation – We provided a link to a case study published on the main Unlock website which had generated a lot of discussion on Twitter. Read the case study and other forum members comments here.

Other news and developments

Below are links to other news and developments that might be of interest to people with a criminal record. For more news, check out the news and media section of our main website.

Summer 2019 Newsletter – What we’ve been up to

We’ve published our summer newsletter which provides an update on the news at Unlock in the past 3 months.

‘Double discrimination?’ report published

We’ve published research on the impact of criminal records as perceived by people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. Download the full report or the executive summary here.

Unlock comment: Ministry of Justice plans on criminal record reform

Unlock have commented on the announcement made by the Ministry of Justice on plans to make changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Read what Unlock’s co-director, Christopher Stacey says.