When do criminal convictions become spent

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Get involved. Become a campaigner Sign up today Become a campaigner. Get help now. Criminal convictions You may have a conviction if you have admitted to or been found guilty of a crime.

If you would like more advice or information you can contact our Advice and Information Service by clicking here. Download Criminal convictions factsheet. Overview What is a criminal record? Share: Contact us:. Overview You may have a conviction if you have pleaded guilty to or been found guilty of a crime. A criminal record has information about your contact with the police.

Employers, insurance companies and visa applications for going abroad sometimes ask about previous convictions. You might not need to tell people about everything that is on your criminal record. If you have a conviction you may only have to tell someone about it for a certain amount of time.

They might later dismiss you or start legal proceedings. Need more advice? If you need more advice or information you can contact our Advice and Information Service. Contact us Contact us. What is a criminal record? This includes: the police, the courts, and prisons. A criminal record can include: details of any offence you have admitted doing, an any offence you have been found guilty of.

Fixed penalty notices like speed camera fines, littering, petty shoplifting Penalty notices for disorder But they will be on your criminal record on police computers. The rehabilitation period will depend on: the sentence given, not the offence, how old you were when you committed the offence, and how many convictions you have. Sentence, order or warning Becomes spent Absolute discharge Instantly.

Attendance centre order At the end of the order. Bind over At the end of the order. Care order When order ceases to have effect. Caution conditional or youth conditional After 3 months or when the order ends whichever is earlier. Caution simple or youth Note: Youth cautions replaced reprimands and final warnings Instantly. Community order or youth rehabilitation order Total length of order plus 1 year. Note: If it has no specific end date it will be spent 2 years from the date of conviction or from the date of the order.

Compensation order When paid in full. Conditional discharge order At the end of the order. Confiscation order When order ceases to have effect. Disqualifications When order ceases to have effect. Endorsements for a road traffic offence 5 years. Fine 1 year.

Fines because of fixed penalty notices FPNs and penalty notices for disorder PNDs are not part of your criminal record. So, they are spent immediately.

Forfeiture order When order ceases to have effect. Prison sentence or detention in a young offender institution for 6 months or less Total length of sentence including licence period plus 2 years. Prison sentence or detention in a young offender institution more than 6 months and up to and including 30 months. Total length of sentence including licence period plus 4 years. Prison sentence or detention in a young offender institution of over 48 months 4 years or a public protection sentence Never spent.

Referral order At the end of the order. Relevant order a restraining order or sexual offences prevention order SOPO When order ceases to have effect Note: If it has no specified end date it is spent two years from the date of conviction or from the time the order is created. Reparation order Instantly Suspended sentence The rehabilitation period is based on the length of the prison sentence, not the length it was suspended for.

Disclosure What is disclosure and why is it important? Disclosure means telling someone that you have a conviction.

However, in certain situations you may need to disclose your criminal convictions and this can have a negative effect on your employment prospects and on other aspects of your life. For example, if you have a criminal conviction you may be unable to:. The consequences may be even more serious if you do not disclose the conviction and it comes to light at a later date.

However, there are some situations where certain offences can be removed from the record, or may not have to be disclosed after a period of time.

For example, if you commit an offence as a child, the offence can be automatically removed from the record once certain conditions are met. You can find more information on this in our document on children and the criminal justice system. And under the Criminal Justice Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures Act , a range of minor offences become spent after 7 years.

This means that an adult convicted of an offence covered by the Act does not have to disclose the conviction after 7 years, except in certain circumstances. The buffer periods are halved if you were under the age of 18 when convicted, except for custodial sentences of six months or less, where the buffer period will be 18 months.

The rehabilitation periods for custodial sentences including suspended prison sentences and community sentences are shown in Table A below. If the order is subsequently changed, this will not affect the rehabilitation period. The rehabilitation period is not halved if the person was under 18 when convicted.

The changes made to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act provided for all subsequent community orders to have an end date. Table B below contains the rehabilitation period for sentences which do not have buffer periods and for which the rehabilitation period starts from the date of conviction. Table B: Rehabilitation periods which do not have buffer periods so start from the date of conviction.

This evidence of payment may be required before a basic disclosure can be issued by Disclosure and Barring Services DBS. The following disclosure periods apply:. Disclosure periods for non-custodial sentences. All others are Category 2 AtPs. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Northern Ireland Order specifies the following rehabilitation periods. Does being on the Sex Offenders Register affect when my conviction becomes spent?

If you are on the Sex Offenders Register i. The rehabilitation period will be determined by the sentence or disposal you received. Andy was issued a simple caution for a relevant sex offence for which he is subject to notification requirements i.

Dave was convicted of downloading indecent images and received a two-year community order. He will be on the Sex Offenders Register for five years, but his conviction will be spent after three years i. If you have received a relevant order, your conviction will not become spent until the order has finished. If there is no end date specified on your order, the default rehabilitation period will be two years from the date of conviction.

If you have received an indefinite order, your conviction will remain unspent indefinitely. Veronica is convicted of harassment and receives a fine and a three-year restraining order. Although the rehabilitation period for a fine is only one year from the date of conviction, her three-year restraining order means that the conviction will not become spent until the three-year period has elapsed.

Not necessarily. If you were aged 18 or over when you were convicted, your community order will be spent one year from the completion of your order. If you were aged under 18 when you were convicted, your community or youth rehabilitation order will be spent six months from the completion of your order.

If your community order does not have a specified end-date, it will be spent two years from the date of conviction. I received a suspended prison sentence. How do I work out the rehabilitation period? Under the ROA, suspended prison sentences are treated in the same way as custodial sentences. It is the length of the sentence, rather than the length of the suspension, that determines the rehabilitation period. In January , Nicole received a six month custodial sentence suspended for one year.

The length of the sentence is six months, which means the rehabilitation period will be two years from the end of the six month period i. The period of suspension is one year, but this has no impact on the rehabilitation period. However, a record over 10 years may be released if:. Findings of guilt without conviction and good behaviour bonds may be released. Recent charges or outstanding matters under investigation that have not yet gone to court may also be released.

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