MEASURES SHOULD be introduced to allow for criminal convictions to be declared “spent” and no longer on the offender’s record, according to a new report.
The report, launched yesterday, was drawn up by the Spent Convictions Group, made up of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society, the Ballymun Community Law Centre, Ballymun Local Drugs Task Force, Business in the Community, Northside Community Law Centre and Northside Partnership.
While a backbench TD, Minister for Children Barry Andrews twice moved Private Members Bills in the Dáil, now legislators are being urged to return to the issue.
The report follows the Report on Spent Convictions from the Law Reform Commission and a report by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform on extending the anti-discrimination legislation to former prisoners.
It recommends that all offenders should be able to apply to have their convictions declared “spent”, apart for those with life sentences, which are mandated for murder and treason.
However, there should be safeguards built into the system to ensure that people with serious convictions could not work with children or vulnerable adults, or in sensitive occupations.
The report points out that having a criminal conviction carries serious consequences, particularly in relation to employment, that can inhibit a person from re-integrating into society and living a crime-free life. This carries a cost for society as well as for the individual, the report states.
Under the scheme proposed in the report, a person would apply to a central authority to have the conviction declared “spent”.
Such applications could be made a given number of years after the sentence had been served, depending on its length.
For example, a person sentenced to two years’ imprisonment would become eligible to have it declared “spent” two years after the expiry of his or her sentence; a person with a longer sentence would have to wait four years after it expired.
There would be shorter waiting times for young offenders, though the sentencing judge would retain a discretion to apply the adult scheme to a young offender if the “justice of the case” required it.
Certain jobs and professions, as determined by an expert body, should be exempt from the scheme.
The civil and public service should not be excluded from the scheme unless the position involved the interests of national security, it said.
No category of offenders should be excluded from the scheme, including sex offenders, it states, while acknowledging that particular safeguards should apply. These would include ensuring that those working with children or vulnerable adults did not have such convictions and that they would be revealed in civil proceedings involving children, like adoption.
The report also recommends amending the anti-discrimination legislation to include a prohibition on discrimination on the grounds of criminal conviction, subject to certain conditions.
Supports should be made available both inside and outside prisoners to assist prisoners in availing of the scheme. It also recommends amending the Children Act 2001 to bring it into line with its proposals regarding “spent” convictions.