Story Type: News

Do you live in Scotland? Do you have a criminal record? Can you help?

Disclosure Scotland is currently reviewing it’s Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme and is looking for views.

We thought it was a great opportunity for people with a criminal record in Scotland to have their say and potentially make a difference to important legislation that will have a real impact on people with a criminal record that live in Scotland.

There’s more information about the review in its Terms of Reference.

The best way to help is to complete the online survey, which will take about 10 minutes. You can also send them an email if you’d like to get more involved.

Landmark Court of Appeal ruling – Government loses appeal against DBS filtering regime – Ruling gives hope to thousands of people trying to put their past behind them

For those of you that have been following the work we’ve been doing on challenging the DBS ‘filtering’ process, we’ve heard today that the Court of Appeal has rejected the Government’s appeal to a decision of the High Court in January last year. This ruled that the criminal records disclosure scheme was disproportionate and unlawful.

The ruling, handed down today, involved a number of cases that were heard in the Court of Appeal in February this year, including cases brought by Liberty and Hodge, Jones & Allen, supported by Just for Kids Law.

The court heard the case of a man convicted in the 1980’s of ABH when he was 16 and received a conditional discharge. The President of the Queen’s Bench Division, Sir Brian Leveson, said in his judgement:

It is difficult to see how publication of this detail, 31 years on, is relevant to the risk of the public, or proportionate and necessary in a democratic society.

We’re delighted with the Court of Appeal’s ruling, which will benefit thousands of people who have old or minor criminal records. The current system which was introduced in 2013, operates with inflexible rules meaning that, for example, someone with more than one conviction on their record will have them disclosed forever, regardless of the nature or circumstances. These shortcomings have now been recognised by the Court of Appeal.

We hope the next government will take immediate steps to respond to today’s ruling by reforming the current system and introducing a fairer and more flexible system.

More information

Read Unlock’s full press release
Find out more about our work on this issue on our policy page for challenging the DBS ‘filtering’ process
For practical information on filtering, read our detailed guide
Discuss this issue on our online forum.

Have your say on mental health conditions in prison

If you’ve had experience of being in prison (or being transferred between a prison and a secure hospital) while having mental health conditions, or if you have a friend or loved one with such experience, the Joint Committee on Human Rights wants to hear from you.

They don’t need you to provide any information that could identify you, they just need to hear about your circumstances and experiences.

Further information about the inquiry into mental health and deaths in prison can be found here or go straight to the Joint Committee forum to have your say.

Has an employer wrongly checked your official criminal record? – Get in touch

As part of our Fair Access to Employment project we’re looking for examples of employers who have carried out inappropriate criminal record checks. We’re gathering this information to feed into our legal strategy which aims to put an end to unlawful criminal record checks.

We’re especially keen to hear from anyone who believes that an employer has carried out a standard or enhanced criminal record check for a role that wasn’t eligible for that level of check and that employer has subsequently taken into account spent convictions or other information from the police that they were not entitled to see (so called “soft intelligence” or “local police information”).

The types of information we’re looking for

We’re interested to hear examples where:

Employers have carried out a standard or enhanced criminal record check which revealed spent convictions or “soft intelligence” or both, AND
The role in question was not eligible for that level of check (i.e. a standard check was carried out when the role was only eligible for a basic check, or an enhanced check was carried out when the role was only eligible for a standard or basic check).

We will review all of the evidence and advise you about your options, including potentially participating in legal action against the employer or umbrella body for submitting an ineligible check or against the DBS for processing an ineligible check.

For further information see our website.

Piece in The Economist – “In Britain, criminal records dog offenders for decades”

Yesterday The Economist published an excellent piece, making the point that “the long memory of the law may limit the chance of rehabilitation”.

Following the recent Law Commission report, and ahead of the Court of Appeal hearing into the current DBS filtering legal challenge, the article highlights Britain’s punitive approach to criminal records.

Featuring the work I did as part of my Winston Churchill Fellowship:

“All this adds up to a system that affects ex-offenders for longer and more profoundly than those elsewhere in Europe, says Christopher Stacey of Unlock, a charity that helps ex-cons. Not all countries include cautions in criminal records, as England and Wales do. In some, employers tend only to ask for background checks when required to do so by law. Sweden allows crimes that have resulted in imprisonment to be expunged after ten years. In France, a judge can deem a person to be “rehabilitated” and wipe the slate clean.”

The article goes on:

“The dilemma is how to balance risk with rehabilitation. At present, Britain leans heavily towards minimising the former. A criminal record is, in effect, an additional sentence, says Mr Stacey—one that can run for the rest of a person’s life.”

Read the article in full.

Written by Christopher Stacey

Useful links

Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
Information – We have practical self-help information on criminal record checks for employment and filtering on our Information Hub.
Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to DBS filtering from people with convictions on our online forum.
Policy work – Read about the work Unlock is doing on challenging the DBS ‘filtering’ process as it doesn’t go far enough.

Sorry for the problems with the site this week

I wanted to write a post to explain about the problems you might have been experiencing with our site this week.

Alongside many other websites, theRecord was having a problem with a digital hack which we understand has affected thousands of websites recently.

Our website platform provider has reacted quickly to overcome this issue and we understand that new updates they’ve provided us with have rectified the problem.

Although this has been incredibly frustrating (we’ve been battling behind the scenes), we would like to reassure all our subscribers that no personal details have been compromised. The site holds no personal information, and our mailing list is maintained by a separate provider, MailChimp, which is unaffected.

So we hope we’re back to business-as-usual, but if you have any questions or concerns, you can contact us at therecord@outlook.com.

By Debbie Sadler

Trustee or senior manager of a charity and have convictions? Are you affected by the Charities Act 2016?

People with convictions play an important role in many charities, particularly those working in the criminal justice sector. Becoming a trustee or leading a charity as part of the senior management team are important roles that people with convictions should be encouraged to take on, and we know it can provide people with a positive pro-social identity.

That’s why for the last few years, we’ve taken an active interest in the extensions to the rules that have become law through the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016. I’ve just published a blog on our main website to cover some of the background of where we are now, and help you to understand whether you’re affected.

Possible legal remedies for the online publication of spent convictions

If you have a spent conviction and are suffering reputational harm or distress as a result of material about that conviction being published online and/or which features in online searches against your name, legal remedies may be available.

We are currently working with Carter-Ruck, a law firm specialising in this area, who are willing to advise people with spent convictions on a “no win no fee” basis.

Further details can be found on our information hub.

Invitation to Prisoners’ Education Trust’s Alumni Party

Every year the Prisoners’ Education Trust (PET) funds around 2,000 people to take distance-learning courses in prison, and this summer, they are throwing a party to celebrate their success. PET would like to invite anyone who has been involved in prison education to join them for an evening of music, food and spoken word. It will be an opportunity to meet former learners, staff, trustees and others working to reform education in prison.

When: Thursday 4th August from 6pm to 8.30pm

Where: Only Connect, 32 Cubitt Street, London, WC1X 0LR

RSVP: katy@prisonerseducation.org.uk

Ever been to prison? What support did you get applying for benefits, finding work and returning to a normal life?

The House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee have launched an inquiry into the benefits and employment support available to people with convictions when they leave prison.

They are interested in hearing from anybody who has had experience of the prison system.

The deadline for consultation is 15th July 2016.

Find out how to have your say on our information site.