Information » Law & Rights » Punishment and Sentences » Criminal Records
- When you are found guilty of a crime, you are convicted and will be given a criminal record.
- Not all records stay with you forever.
- Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, if you’ve broken the law in the past, for some crimes and if a certain amount of time has passed, your criminal record could be 'spent’.
- To get further details on how long you must wait for your criminal record to be spent you can call the Resettlement Plus Helpline 020 7840 6464
- A conviction for a Violent Crime against another young person, who is under 18, will permanently remain on your record.
- Violent crimes are treated differently to other crimes and unlike other offences that may be wiped from your recorded after a period of time these offences have 'Schedule One Status' and will remain with you for LIFE.
- A Schedule One Status Offence is a crime committed by one under 18 year old, against another under 18 year old.
- Schedule One Offences include sexual assaults on children, rape, various forms of neglect and ill treatment, including murder and manslaughter.
- It also includes common offences such as common assault and assault causing bodily injury to someone less than 18 years old.
- It is worth bearing in mind that a fight in a school playground or in your street could result in you being convicted of common assault - which is a Schedule One Offence.
- If you have been convicted of a Schedule One Status offence then your career, life choices and employment options are likely to be restricted. If you hope to work with children you will automatically be police checked.
- If you apply, to go to college, go on a training course, for a job, for a credit card, to travel in some countries and for many other activities and documents you will usually be asked if you have a criminal record.
- For certain jobs such as teaching, youth work, nursing, care work, nursery nursing, sports coaching and many more jobs where you will be working with people there is a requirement to have a Criminal Records Bureau (C.R.B.) check before you can get the job.
