Does the UK have an Act inplace where a person's criminal conviction is by all intents and purposes, wiped clean? After reading a thread on the subject, I went and chased up some info on the law in Queensland, and found that for most non serious crimes, a record is "wiped" if that person can stay clean for ten years. It even allows for a person to swear on oath in a court of law, that he/she has no record.
I thought we did. Then A few years ago I had to apply for a pass to the Scottish Parliament and discovered we don't
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The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act doesn't actually wipe your record clean, but it means only certain govt agencies are allowed access to info over 10 years old, and then only when they meet strict criteria. So for most job applications etc, any convictions over 10 years old would be spent, but if you were applying for a job as, say, a copper, and you had old convictions for armed robbery, you'd still be ****ed.
I got a poxy conviction for shoplifting when I was seventeen. Was hanging around with a group of lads as you sometimes do, one of them knicked some aftershave or something from a shop and because I was with him (stupidly so, peer pressure you know) I got a criminal conviction. Not a caution or a clip round the ear, a conviction that has stayed with me, I presume, for nearly 30 years. If I needed a CRB check done I'd imagine that it would be on there...how embarrassing. Did I learn my lesson? You bet I did, if anyone I was with did anything similar now I'd tell them where to go. However, before anyone out there in the big wide world tries to judge me on one stupid moment, there is no one out there who has not sinned. **** 'em I say and just get on with it.
I wonder Morty if a lot of that old pre digital stuff is still about. Would the paper records still be in some box someplace?
In all my youthful bawbaggery I was very lucky never to be caught doing anything worthy of a conviction - I wouldn't have my current job now if I had any sort of police record because all gambling license authorities I've come across are extremely wary of allowing convicts to work in the industry.
You have to wonder if "Big Brother" as gone over the top. Morty still carries a criminal record some thirty years down the track. My own conviction for 13 Indian hemp seeds was 37 years ago.
I need a licence from the gaming board (personal functioning licence ) to work in a Casino, a few years ago it would be impossible with a failed CRB check but now as long as the conviction is not for theft fraud or violence then as long as you declare it to them they are more lenient. I was caught up in a stupid D&D moment and searched , i had a plastic box cutter type craft knife in my bag this will be permanently stay on my record and may hinder any more visits to the US but in my experience just lying on Visa forms usually does the trick.
That's appalling really - big difference between being a silly teenager in the wrong crowd and doing something really bad. If anything it shows what ****s some magistrates are.
