Forgive me, for I have sinned
"One of the key elements of punishment is being able to leave the past behind. You do the crime and serve your time, and then hopefully draw a line under the whole sorry mess, get on with your life and do not trouble the courts again.
Forgive
Clearly however, there are some cases where your past must continue to follow you – most people would be shocked if a child killer could get a job in a school and not have to disclose his or her past offending for example.
But what about a minor indiscretion some years earlier? And where do we draw the line?"
http://andrewkeogh.co.uk/forgive-me-for-i-have-sinned
http://www.crimeline.info/uploads/clc/miscresources/rehaboffenders.pdf
March 5, 2014
Are the changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act enough?
"People with criminal convictions are not the most popular group in society. However, once somebody has served their sentence and doesn’t re-offend, it’s in everybody’s interests to enable them to move on positively with their lives and contribute actively to society.
And we’re not talking about a small group of people either – although around 100,000 people are sent to prison every year, there are over 1.4 million convictions at court every year.
The majority – approximately 945,000 convictions – involve a fine, with 195,000 convictions resulting in a community sentence, and about 45,000 having a suspended prison sentence.
There are over 9 million people in England and Wales with a criminal record. A third of people claiming jobseekers allowance have been cautioned or convicted in the last 10 years.""
http://www.the-record.org.uk/unlock-people-with-convictions/are-the-changes-to-the-rehabilitation-of-offenders-act-enough/
http://hub.unlock.org.uk/changestotheroa
7th March 2014
Reforms to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act "will make a huge difference to thousands of people, but they don't go far enough" says Unlock, a national charity for people with convictions
"On Monday 10th March, the UK Government will finally implement reforms to the 1974 Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.
The charity Unlock has campaigned for changes for many years. Christopher Stacey, Director of Services at Unlock, says “There are over 9 million people in England & Wales with a criminal record and more than 1.2 million people get convicted at court every single year.
For the majority of these people, these changes mean that the length of time they’ll need to disclose their conviction for will be reduced – for example, more than 800,000 people a year receive a fine at court, and the rehabilitation period for this will reduce from 5 years to 1 year.“
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=45c161a5b068f45e640606f58&id=fe578673f2
10 March 2014
The right of offenders to get back on track
http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/christopher-stacey/right-of-offenders-to-get-back-on-track
Reforms to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
"The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act was reformed under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. This followed Nacro's Change The Record campaign, which set out to reform the period of time over which ex-offenders have to declare any previous convictions. The declaration period can be years or decades and can hold people back from gaining employment."
http://www.nacro.org.uk/what-we-do/resettlement-advice-service/advice/disclosing-criminal-records/rehabilitation-of-offenders-act-1974,1646,NAP.html#4
http://www.nacro.org.uk/what-we-do/resettlement-advice-service/reforms-to-the-rehabilitation-of-offenders-act
21-03-2014
Driving offence clause will cause chaos
http://www.nacro.org.uk/in-the-news/driving-offence-clause-will-cause-chaos,1769,NAP.html
*****
Published 4 March 2014
New Guidance on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
Organisation: Ministry of Justice
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-guidance-on-the-rehabilitation-of-offenders-act-1974
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
http://www.justice.gov.uk/offenders/rehabilitation-of-offenders-act
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974; 1974 CHAPTER 53
"An Act to rehabilitate offenders who have not been reconvicted of any serious offence for periods of years, to penalise the unauthorised disclosure of their previous convictions, to amend the law of defamation, and for purposes connected therewith."
What is the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974?
http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/offenders/rehabilitation/rehabilitation-offenders.pdf (information, soon to be defunct)
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/53
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/10/contents/enacted
*****
06.03.14
Reforms to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
http://www.axaconnect.co.uk/News/2014/Reforms_to_the_Rehabilitation_of_Offenders_Act_1974/
*****
R (on the application of) T -v- Chief Constable of Greater Manchester and others
Court of Appeal (Civil Division) judgment
Neutral Citation Number: [2013] EWCA Civ 25 Case No: C1/2012/0520, C1/2011/1660 & C1/2011/1678 Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/media/judgments/2013/r-t-chief-constable-greater-manchester-judgment-29012013
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2013/25.html
http://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/news-and-events/blogs/regulatory-and-professional-discipline-blog/case-update-r-t-and-others-v-chief-constable-of-greater-manchester-police-and-others-2013-ewca-civ-25
*****
Posted: March 10, 2014
An update on today’s historic changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
"Today is an historic day for Unlock. We’ve campaigned for many years to see changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. It’s the first time in nearly 40 years since the legislation has been reformed in this way. It’s been quite a wait since the law received Royal Assent in 2012, but we’re delighted that we’ve finally got there.
Since we got notice of the implementation date, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to make sure that we do all that we can to prepare for the changes.
We are also firmly of the belief that the changes don’t go far enough, and we’ve been doing a lot of work to try and make this clear ..."
http://hub.unlock.org.uk/new-resources-roa
‘How long do I have to disclose my criminal record for?’ – A detailed guide to the ROA (updated 2014)
http://hub.unlock.org.uk/knowledgebase/detailedguideroa
Disclosure Calculator
http://www.disclosurecalculator.org.uk
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
"New time periods for disclosing convictions from March 2014."
http://www.insidetime.org/resources/Employment/Rehabilitation-of-Offenders-Updated-March-14.pdf
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
"Background
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 exists to allow people with convictions to be reintegrated back into society by having the right to legally ignore their conviction after a period of time. The Act allows convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings in respect of a certain offence to be considered ‘spent’ after a specified period of time known as the ‘rehabilitation period’ which is decided by the sentence or disposal received.
Once ‘spent’, the person is considered rehabilitated and the Act treats the person as if they had never committed an offence. As a result, the conviction or caution in question does not need to be disclosed by the person when applying for most jobs, educational courses, insurance, housing applications or other purposes, unless the role applied for is exempt from the Act (see ‘Exceptions to the Act’).
If a role is covered by the Act, it is unlawful for an employer to refuse to employ a person (or dismiss an existing employee) because the individual has a ‘spent’ caution or conviction.
It is also unlawful for an organisation to knowingly carry out (or enable someone else to obtain) a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on a person for a role which is covered by the Act.
If a role is covered by the Act, the employer is only legally entitled to carry out a basic criminal check known as a basic disclosure (provided by Disclosure Scotland) which will reveal only ‘unspent’ convictions.
A basic disclosure should not be confused with a standard DBS check which is legally required only for positions exempt from the Act such as approved financial posts by the Financial Conduct Authority, accountants, lawyers, barristers and other legal positions. For further information on criminal record checks, please see here."
http://www.nacro.org.uk/what-we-do/resettlement-advice-service/advice/disclosing-criminal-records/rehabilitation-of-offenders-act-1974,1646,NAP.html
Monday 10 March 2014 21.00 GMT
A new deal on criminal records
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/10/new-deal-criminal-records?CMP=twt_gu
March 10, 2014
New rehabilitation of offenders legislation comes into effect
http://www.t2a.org.uk/new-rehabilitation-of-offenders-legislation-comes-into-effect/
*****
Offenders will have low-level convictions erased from their record far more quickly than before -to help them find work. Good or bad idea?
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) March 10, 2014
(Embedded Tweet - click date)*****
Posted on March 21, 2014
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
"The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 aims to give those with convictions or cautions the chance – in certain circumstances – to wipe the slate clean and start afresh.
Under the Act, eligible convictions or cautions become “spent” after a specified period of time known as the “rehabilitation period”, the length of which varies depending on how the individual concerned was dealt with.
Prison sentences of over 4 years are excluded from the scope of the Act and can therefore never become spent. The rehabilitation periods for other types of sentence vary according to whether the person was cautioned or convicted and, if the latter, the type of sentence imposed. Rehabilitation periods will generally be shorter for offenders aged under 18 when they were convicted.
Once the conviction or caution becomes spent, the offender is regarded as rehabilitated and (for most purposes) is treated as if he had never committed the offence. [if only]"
http://andrewkeogh.co.uk/the-rehabilitation-of-offenders-act
http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN01841.pdf
*****
March 25, 2014
Unlock provide update on recent changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
"Unlock have campaigned for many years to see changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. It’s the first time in nearly 40 years since the legislation has been reformed in this way.
It’s been quite a wait since the law received Royal Assent in 2012, but we’re delighted that we’ve finally got there.
Since we got notice of the implementation date, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to make sure that we do all that we can to prepare for the changes.
We are also firmly of the belief that the changes don’t go far enough, and we’ve been doing a lot of work to try and make this clear"
http://www.factuk.org/unlock-provide-update-on-recent-changes-to-the-rehabilitation-of-offenders-act-1974/
http://hub.unlock.org.uk/changestotheroa
Unlock - Downloads & Using our materials
http://hub.unlock.org.uk/downloads
*****
April 2014
Second chances and ‘invisible punishment’
http://thejusticegap.com/2014/04/spent-convictions-invisible-punishment
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