Ask Baroness Williams of Trafford to remove criminal records for new cautions
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill plans to introduce a new kind of caution. Anyone who receives it will have to disclose it on a basic criminal record check for three months afterwards, including to employers. This will act as a barrier to those seeking work, education, and volunteering opportunities.
The bill is currently being debated in the House of Lords so there is still a chance to make changes. Use this form to ask Baroness Williams of Trafford, the peer overseeing this bill, to remove the three-month disclosure period for diversionary cautions from the bill, so that people can move on with their lives.
Message for Baroness Williams of Trafford
When you sign the petition this message will be sent to Baroness Williams of Trafford.
Subject: Remove criminal records for new cautions
Dear Lady Williams
I am writing to ask you to support changes to the criminal records implications for the new planned cautions in the Policing, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill (Schedule 10). Cautions are a form of police action responding to cases which are not in the public interest to prosecute.
In the current bill, anyone receiving a “diversionary caution” will have to declare it to employers as part of a basic criminal record check for three months. The government argues that this three-month period is required to protect the public. But there is strong evidence that employment is one of the most important factors in enabling people to cease offending behaviour and move on to crime-free lives as productive members of society.
Requiring people in employment to declare the caution will risk them losing their job. It will also act as a barrier to those seeking work, education, insurance, and volunteering opportunities. Research has found that employers do discriminate against people with criminal records, and that most do not differentiate between a caution and a conviction. More than 60,000 people receive a caution every year. Introducing a criminal record for the diversionary caution will not help public protection, instead it will hamper people’s efforts to gain employment and stay on the straight and narrow.
As the bill is currently being discussed in the House of Lords, I urge the government to support removing the requirement to disclose diversionary cautions for three months after receiving them. Our criminal record system should not be a barrier that prevents people who have made amends from moving forward and contributing to society. People deserve a real chance to move on.
Yours sincerely
[Your name]
[Your e-mail address]
[Your postal address]
[Your postcode]