criminal record

[bengal]

how long does a criminal record stay on file for

[paul84]

It depends what the crime was.

Rehabilition of offenders act is your friend.

http://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/rehabact.htm

HTH
Paul

[Law Man1856]

bengal,

wide field see the previous posts many answers on this recently.

[almcd007]

For ever. There will always be a record of the offence on your record.

After 5 years most offences become spent - which just means that they can't be taken into consideration when sentancing for another offence. People often thinks spent means lost in the system or expired or deleted etc

You must always declare an offence for any job application as when a CRB is done and it comes up - you mainly have to sign to say you haven't any convictions and that's dishonesty - best to be upfront about everything.

[Buenchico]

Almcd007's answer isn't entirely accurate. (In fact, it seems to be back to front!):

Courts are not obliged to disregard an offence which happened many years ago when considering sentence. I.e. as far as the courts are concerned, a conviction is never 'spent'.

However, once a conviction is 'spent', you do not have to declare it on any employment application (except where the type of employment is exempted from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act). You can lawfully write 'No' in answer to the question 'Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence' without fear of prosecution for 'seeking to gain a pecuniary advantage by deception'.

Paul's link provides the information you require about the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. However, Almcd007 is correct in stating that a criminal record is for life. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act simply means that, for most purposes, you're not obliged to declare your convictions after a set period of time.

Chris

[almcd007]

Thanks Chris.

Without being longwinded and knowing exactly why - it's a bit of an open ended question.

Spent means different things in different circumstances for different offences - I always think it's best just to be honest about these things as they have a habit of coming after you and biting you up the arse when you least expect it.

[davec886]

The period after which an offence is spent actually depends on the sentence and not the offence. People should refrian from replying unless they know what they're talking about!

[jadeyjade]

for life mate unfortunatly they never go away .