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Rehabilitation in the internet age

Document Cited authorities 3 Cited in Related
AuthorChristopher Stacey
DOI10.1177/0264550517711280
Published date01 September 2017
Date01 September 2017
PRB711280 269..275
Comment
The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
Rehabilitation in the
2017, Vol. 64(3) 269–275
ª The Author(s) 2017
internet age: The
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550517711280
Google-effect and the
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb
disclosure of criminal
records
Christopher Stacey
Unlock, Maidstone Community Support Centre, UK
Abstract
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 provides people with criminal records
protection from discrimination once their criminal record becomes ‘spent’. In this
article, I highlight how media reports are increasingly available online and often mean
spent convictions continue to be accessible to employers and others. However, I also
look at a landmark case in 2014 that established a ‘right to be forgotten’, which
enables people to ask for search results to be delisted from internet search engines. I
examine to what extent this helps people with convictions.
Keywords
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, criminal records, disclosure, rehabilitation,
internet, Google
Introduction
There are over 10.5 million people in the UK with a criminal record. The vast
majority of them have put their mistakes behind them and are living crime-free, law-
abiding lives. However, their criminal record can restrict their enjoyment of full and
inclusive citizenship – in some cases, for many years after they have served their
sentences in full.1
Corresponding Author:
Christopher Stacey, Unlock – For People with Convictions, Maidstone Community Support Centre, 39–48
Marsham Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1HH, UK.
Email: christopher.stacey@unlock.org.uk
270
Probation Journal 64(3)
People with convictions are the least likely disadvantaged group to be employed
– only 12 per cent of employers have knowingly employed one in the last three
years (CIPD, 2010). They make up between a quarter and a third of unemployed
people (Ministry of Justice, 2011), and 75 per cent of employers discriminate
against applicants on the basis of a criminal record (Working Links, 2010). Beyond
finding work, other difficulties people can face as a result of their criminal record
can include obtaining insurance, travelling to other countries, accessing educa-
tional opportunities, and exclusion from participation in aspects of civil society.
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
People on probation or recently released from prison have to deal with having a
criminal record that they need to disclose to an employer or an insurance company
if they are asked. The rules are quite complex but, in short, anybody currently ser-
ving some form of community order will have an unspent conviction as defined by
the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA), and even when they finish that
order it will remain unspent for at least a further year. Those released from prison
have an unspent conviction for the length of the full sentence plus an additional fixed
period (which varies depending on the length of the prison sentence).
If an individual does not get reconvicted for a certain period of time afterward,
the conviction can in most cases become spent. The ROA is designed to enable
people with convictions to move on with their lives once they have become ‘reha-
bilitated’. Putting it another way, the ROA is designed to be a form of legal pro-
tection from discrimination. The point at which convictions become spent changed
in 2014, with most convictions becoming spent much sooner than previously.
However, the ROA first came into force over 40 years ago, when criminal
records (official or otherwise) were not accessible in the way that they are now.
Furthermore, it is quite common for employers to use the internet as an informal part
of their recruitment process. Employers regularly use internet search engines to
‘check-up’ on job applicants. Although only a small percentage of criminal cases
receive media coverage, where they do, the effect can be long-lasting. The
reporting of their convictions online, and the lack of regulation, means that many
people find that they face judgement and discrimination long after their convictions
legally...

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