Suspended Sentence

[simibarg]

After receiving a suspended sentence, what restrictions can be imposed on normal everyday life? What jobs, if any, can you not have and are there places that you cannot travel to? The conviction is for ABH.

[Buenchico]

(Multi-part post):

Travel bit first:
Any EU citizen has the automatic right (subject to possessing a valid passport or national identity card) to travel,without any visa formalities, anywhere else in the EU. The only exception is where a government makes a specific order banning an individual for reasons of national health, security or public order. Any British citizen with a conviction with ABH can travel freely within the EU.

Outside of the EU, that person is also free to travel to any country unless that country places a general ban on anyone with a criminal conviction (e.g. Canada) or might refuse a visa to people with certain criminal convictions (e.g, the USA).

In practice, most popular tourist destinations don't require a visa for short visits by tourists. So people with criminal convictions can travel freely to those countries. Also, the majority of countries which do requires tourists to obtain visa don't ask any questions about criminal convictions (e.g. India). So there are no problems travelling to those countries for tourism purposes.

[Buenchico]

With the vast majority of countries (outside of the EU), the only time problems might arise is when a visa is sought for non-tourist purposes (e.g. to work in, or to emigrate to, that country).

Now the employment bit:
Convictions resulting in prison sentences become 'spent' as follows:
Sentence not exceeding 6 months > after 7 years (or 3� years if the person was under 18 when convicted)
Sentence exceeding 6 months but not exceeding 2�years > after 10 years (or 5 years if the person was under 18 when convicted)
Sentences over 2� years > Never
Note: No conviction can become 'spent' if the offender has another unspent conviction. So, if the person who was convicted of ABH commits another offence in the future (before the ABH conviction is 'spent'), the ABH offence won't become 'spent' until the other offence is also 'spent'.

Prior to a conviction becoming 'spent', a job applicant must always declare it when asked whether he has any criminal convictions. (Failure to do so is a criminal offence). Once a conviction is (for most purposes) 'spent', it only needs to be declared when applying for jobs which are exempted from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (such as those working with, or alongside children or vulnerable adults).

[Buenchico]

If an employer requires a CRB check (whether at 'standard' or 'enhanced' level) all convictions will always show up, even those which are 'spent'.

Each employer is free to determine who he will, or won't, give a job to. With the exception of certain professions (e.g. teachers, doctors, solicitors, etc) where professional bodies set standard rules, or jobs like working for the police (where the Home Office can set the rules), there is no automatic bar to employment. However statistics show that anyone with an unspent conviction is likely to find it at least eight times harder to get a job than someone without a conviction.

Chris

[simibarg]

Thank you so much Buenchico, that's really helpful.