By Simmo - 22 Jul 20 9:51 PM
'Claires Law' or the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme as its officially known has been in operation for some time now. It gives partners or their family or professionals working with them ect to submit a request to the police to see if the persons partner has any convictions relating to domestic violence. Whats your thoughts on this? Is it fair? Especially if you have moved on from something in the past and are trying to improve your life?
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By Simmo - 23 Jul 20 1:21 PM
+xDepends if it is a unrestricted right to know, or if there are safeguards to prevent people going on fishing expeditions. Provided somebody, usually the police, act as gatekeepers, to decide if a request for disclosure ought to be granted or not, then you have protection. Otherwise, it will be a free for all, with peoples convictions being spread all over social media.That would be a problem.
This is a very good point and was subject to alot of parliamentary debate when this legislation was drafted. Anyone (friend, neighbour, family member ect) can apply for disclosure on someone's behalf under the DVDS or the person themselves can apply, known as 'the right to know'. Although just because someone applies on someone elses behalf doesnt mean that they are given any of the information disclosed if there is any. The disclosure is usually done directly to the person concerned, is always done in person, and they are never given any documents. They are warned about the confidentiality of any information they are given and told they must not disclose it to anyone. It is designed for the person concerned to be given the information about any history their partner has to enable them to make informed choices about their partner/relationship, so if it is not necessary to disclose it to a third party they they must not do so. Of course this does not mean they wont. Any disclosure must also be made inline with the ROA act and any convictions considered spent (or previous incidents/arrests that resulted in NFA or no conviction that are from some time ago) are normally not disclosed. Also, any convictions that are not relevant, for example possession of drugs are never disclosed.
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