Hello im new here!
Read some good responses!
I agree my blood boiled when I saw wipe slate clean charity going on about getting children up to 18 a clear criminal record?
As a few of you have already said what about anyone who is above 18?
And they made one mistake why should someone making one minor mistake be given a record for life or till your 100?
The discrimination is crazy!

Also in response to this joke filtering system thats now been accepted?
I remember like so many on this website all the high hopes I had when that top judge ruled over a year ago
That some type of filtering process must be brought in
I really felt a sense of excitement and hope
Only like so many others on here to find those hopes dashed and totally destroyed!
I was stunned when they brought in such a very basic and very unfair system?
11 years to wait for just one minor conviction?
Then if you have offended and been before the court twice your finished! .
If you have been even for just a month to prison or got a suspended prison sentence your finished!
Then came the exemption list which is over 400 or more offences they have put nearly everything on there they can find
Then the final kick in the face was this not including multiple order offence as one single conviction?
After that psycho Ian Huntley caused this crb nightmare to start around ten years ago
There still is no hope for millions for I would now imagine for many more years to come?
I just can't like so many others on here understand why this nonsense is being allowed to go on and on?
What's to stop the powers that be from adding more offences to the exemption list any time over the next few years?
They say rehabilitation offenders act is meant to mean spent but is only any use for mainly low paid jobs generally
Most of better job options require standard or enhanced check
So they try to keep people unemployed or make them go back to a life of crime?
Best thing is when they keep them unemployed they then get pressure from job centre daily and society to get a job?
And get called lazy and benefit scroungers?
Very strange country?
Many other European and non eu countries wipe minor records after say ten to 20 years!
Even countries like new Zealand!

Thanks for your reply AJW!
I understand your cynical thoughts and despair on this matter!
I know that one thing is for sure if members on here and other 9 million affected sit back and just wait and hope
For more changes to come?
I guarantee we will be in for a very long wait again!
Look how long unlock and others have campaigned to get rehabilitation offenders act 1974 amended around 40 years!
It has taken for them to finally do something and although it's a welcome improvement for some 4 years max in prison
Its again very small the change after 40 years!
What we should firstly be offended by the most is that this continual discrimination is based on the argument we need to keep
Children and vulnerable adults safe?
That was the premise of them appealing to the supreme court in the first place!
So what they the government or maybe society is that if you did one act of say theft or criminal damage ten years ago or 15 years ago
Your now rehabilitated but if you did two minor acts of theft or theft and say common assault twenty years ago then your never
Worthy of a second chance and your a risk to children or vulnerable adults?
And you should be punished by having to reveal these offences for every job you apply to for the rest of your life!
Your only safe to work in low paid work that a basic check will allow you protection on
What kind of society have we now created that uses this argument to keep millions in low paid work or unemployment or force them.
Back into life of crime or have to move abroad?

The other questions we should be now asking is with the availability and use of the Internet why is there no main campaign
Group apart from wipe the slate clean, nacro and unlock?
Why if there is over 9 million affected has there not been any desire to create a real big pressure group for fair change?
Or will one now come about now that many have been let down by this so called new filtering plan?
Its hard to believe that many are now worse of than the old step down process?
Im starting to conclude that many of the nine million affected are not really affected in the way some of us believe?
It would be interesting to know how many out of 9 million are genuinely been affected now by standard and enhanced crb checks?
Would the number affected and angered by it be say half a million to a million?
Or two million to three million or more?
If we have at least half a million to one million affected then where are they?
Where is there ideas there voice?
There is not even that many on a established charity site like unlock?
So the question is why is everyone doing What people often have done in uk through history and thats do nothing? .
If no ideas come forward to create more changes and there is not the numbers for support then I guarantee
Nothing will be any different in ten years from now!
Im all for supporting anyone who thinks they can create any ideas or pressure group for proper change to this discrimination

In response to AJW83!
Yes I totally agree that there was not enough done on the filtering process and for so many people thinking
There was going to be a dramatic change a year or two years ago
To now find only 15 percent of people with record out of nine million people is a disgrace!
I think the many obstacles they have put in place like around 600 or more exemption list offences
Anyone been to prison for even two days is not included
And Anyone with multiple offences or been before the court more than once no hope of a second chance
And then for one person who is lucky enough to qualify they have to wait eleven years for it to be filtered out??
I understand your anger and disappointment but I can guarantee while the major keep quiet and dont get involved
The government labour or tory all of them the same will sit back now and it will be another five to ten to 25 years
Before there are any more improvements to filtering process
And what we must also be asking is why should they keep minor offence records along with your DNA
And finger prints for life or until if you make 100 years of age as they think you might still committ a crime even at
70! Or 80! Or 90!
Remember how police think once a criminal no matter if you just got a caution your a criminal to police and uk plc for
Life!!!

In response to Everflex!
Yes I think your thinking similar to myself I agree we need to put together some ideas for pressure group or campaign group?
Your idea of a march in london or other big cities with masks on is good idea!
I think that it's important that we don't give up and we stick together and put some ideas together even over a meal or drinks and
Walk a few of us?
There was another pressure chat site called CRB forum.org and a nice lady set it up to give people forum and pressure group for changes
And she kept it open for a few years and by time I joined I said to her I notice there is hardly anyone that even comes on the site?
She said most members ever was about 150 and by time I joined there was about 20 at the most!
And only about three every week at the most came on!!
When I spoke with two or three people affected by criminal record just a year ago before filtering came in none of them were
Prepared to do anything at all only complain!
They all were waiting and hoping the filtering process would help them like the people with cautions they will not do anything now
To help our cause!
The lady who ran the site without notice has just shut the website down!!!
So that gives you a good idea of what we are dealing with! !
If it was France one or two or three million out of the nine million would be on the streets daily they would not accept this discrimination
But this is England and no one wants to do anything here thats why anything that gets changed takes years and years!!
Even this very good forum the only place we have at moment to chat and express our views has taken years to get 2000 members?
The membership on here should be at least half a million to one million or more!
So I blame English people most as there is enough of us in numbers to get changes we want had the numbers and support been there
If the support had been there ten or twenty years ago then I believe keeping minor criminal records for life or untill 100 years of age?
Then none of the things that are now happening would of happened
Lets just face it people in uk really do put up with so much crap and then we say thank you for it as well! !
Im open to any ideas for pressure group and another support group that we can create maybe?

To Everflex! .
Where also are the rich celebrities who have made it despite criminal records?
People like Stephen fry and duncan ballaytybe one of the richest men in uk from dragons den and Peter stringfellow who once
Did a stretch in armley prison!
Now a millionaire successful nightclub owner
And johnny vaugn of radio and television
And many more I havet even mentioned they could of all helped change things but even they don't want to get involved
And prefer to be individuals and keep silent sadly

Where does the European Court of Human Rights fit into this?

I've been thinking the same way as you Dalesguy. Where is the campaign to get things changed? I know of one or two groups which are quite successful that employ non-violent law breaking techniques to get their message across and to force change from the government. It's not as if there's a shortage of people in our position who are scared of or new to breaking the law! No.....I'm not really advocating breaking the law. Not in our situations. But I think that AJW83 is right in saying that people with a conviction and who want to move on don't want to draw attention to themselves. But surely, a march or something in London with it's millions of people living quite an anonymous and private life would be possible. People could even wear the Guy Fawkes masks as used by Anonymous or possibly something depicting their never-ending shame if they are that worried. There are millions or us. It's not that people should not be punished which is mainly our concern but at some point the punishment must end.

What happened?

Thank you.

In that link you say that:

“We believe that the filtering process must go further. We will be looking at this judgement carefully to look at what can be done to widen the scope of the filtering process to better enable people with convictions to move on positively with their lives once they’ve become law-abiding citizens.”

How further do you wish them to go? Also, there's a lot of mention of 'minor' offences. What is a 'minor' offence?

Personally, I think I can forgett any form of hope regarding a flitering process being of any benefit to me.

What's the obsession with youth convictions? I was a good youth. But I went off the rails during my 20's. 20 years on from my last conviction, I'm a totally different person.

I think that if anything is termed a 'listed offence' then it's not minor. I see that ABH is on there. May as well give up any hopes of my offences ever being filtered. There's a list of them linked at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-list-of-offences-that-will-never-be-filtered-from-a-criminal-record-check

I'm of the view that all cautions should be filtered, especially if the person has a single one on their record. Surely if the police thought fit to issue a caution then the offence was not "serious" anyway!

A step in the right direction it seems, and great to see it backed up today with high-level calls for filtering of youth convictions:

www.theguardian.com/law/2014/jun/19/children-criminal-past-clean-slate-18-say-mps

although I am sure there it will not benefit that many in reality. Still, I was heartened that most of the commentary on yesterday's decision did recognise that people are capable of change, although people do seem to think that adults are less capable!

Good news to those who are eligible, Everflex I think the best that will happen is they will include all offences below a certain class in the big Police youve been naughty list and then possibly make it so multiple offences perhaps only unrelated ones like a driving offence if you were convicted of burglary be filtered too.

Extremely unlikely higher offences or multiple of the same offence will be and mine will never be, ah well can always hope the EU step in to make changes.

Post Edited (AJW83) : 18/06/2014 14:09:47 (GMT+2)

haha yes I am probably very cynical but life has gotten me like that I see these so called massive changes like with the filtering then it turns out only 15% of people with a criminal record will benefit that is simply not good enough, the problem is there is a stigma that will likely never go attached to having a criminal record its not like gay rights movements 30+ years ago where they are simply making a choice about their sexuality we have committed a crime and therefore seen as not good by society and that opinion is unlikely to change unlike how people see same sex couples. The masses that have these records dont want to draw attention to themselves they just want to try and carry on as if nothing has happened and this is why they do not voice their opinion.

My personal opinion would be for the criminal offence tick box to be made illegal and the dbs and disclosure scotland should only be allowed to produce standard/enhanced checks for roles that require it and when i mean require it actually require it so schools, doctors, people with access to vulnerable groups. I am sorry but the excuses of the DBS not checking if a company is eligible is complete garbage they are providing a paid service they should have to do certain checks before processing an application.

Post Edited (AJW83) : 22/06/2014 11:21:09 (GMT+2)

Problem is the majority of "honest" people that have probably committed several crimes but just have never been caught will give the usual argument "You shouldnt have committed the crime in the first place" and of course government and the MoJ bow to the media and public so there is no way things will change its not like America where you bring unpopular changes on a final term in office these political parties want to win the next election and helping those dirty crims does nothing for that.

In regards to under 18's getting a clean slate well its the same as the filtering there will be numerous exceptions to it and lets be honest you can get the public on your side when its kids who have thrown eggs at a car who need there records wiping so they can go on to a successful life.

EU should have stepped in immediately, a dbs check already prevents one to work and provide for family and contradicts the human rights act surely ?

UK should look at some places in Europe which simply wipe the slate clean after few years, person can't remain unemployed whole life surely !

And if UK does not wish to do this then they should force dbs to follow regulations and law and not allow any one to run a dbs check when not permitted.

Its a step in the right direction but very far off from any form of rehabilitation.

Government needs to understand the ROA law properly and rehabilitation meaning, with just under 10 million people in UK with warnings, cautions and criminal convictions better steps are required to get them back into employment.

Sadly I am understanding why no one is taking those steps in the right direction, government is allowing dbs to cash in via back ground checks despite the job role not legally permitted to even make or run the background check in the first place. Until that situation is exposed and dismantled we have no hope in getting employment or forms of rehabilitation in my opinion. Sadly if it is challenged or exposed which it won't be, it would mean millions of pounds loss to the government which is why it would never come to light.

Self employment or getting employment with friends or family or moving abroad are really the only real options.