Letter: Stuck record should be wiped
Correspondent • Published 2 Sep 2010 09:30
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Many times I have said that crime should be severely punished especially in the case of repeat serial offenders.
I’m sure that this is the wish of the public.
However there is a flip side to punishment and that is to rehabilitate the offender into society so that once the time is ‘done’ for the crime there is the opportunity to lead a ‘normal’ life in normal employment.
I have come across a case whereby a man who was involved in a serious crime in his youth (some 25 years ago) is effectively prevented from holding a normal employed position because this conviction, which can never be ‘spent’, continually causes the loss of the job once the CRB check comes back.
It is perfectly obvious that the clean record over those last 25 years indicates a complete break with any criminal activity and yet the system is seriously discouraging the following of a normal life. There must be more than a little bit of temptation in this type of situation, which has to be far from unique, to give up on normal employment and to follow a criminal career. There are of course certain offences, like those of a paedophile that should ban contact with children for life and therefore jobs that involve children. Paedophiles are said to be incurable and therefore a special case.
But is there any point to giving this type of ‘life sentence’ to people who have quite obviously changed their ways many years ago?
Howard Thomas
Common Sense Party
Cardiff Road, Reading
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