I am writing to you in the hope of seeking a change to the harsh system of minor criminal records data retention. In England and Wales, Simple cautions become spent immediately at the moment they are issued, while conditional cautions become spent after three months. However, they remain on police national computers until a person reaches one hundred years of age; this results in information that is spent being disclosed for a lifetime. There is no pardon system in the UK.

Why is this important?

"According to www.Gov.uk Cautions are given to anyone aged 10 or over for minor crimes - for example writing graffiti on a bus shelter. A caution is not a criminal conviction, but it could be used as evidence of bad character if you go to court for another crime."

The number of Nominal records held on the PNC for individuals with a criminal element against their names, as at the latest quarterly report (October 2022) are 12,282,131. 

With over 12 million people in the UK who held a criminal record in 2022. Many have accepted a police caution in the past after being told by the police that it isn't the same as a criminal conviction and it won't appear on their criminal record, only to find many years later that it appears on their Acro and advanced criminal record checks affecting their ability to work, travel and immigrate.

None of us should be judged by the actions of our weakest moments, but rather by the strength we show when and if we're given a second chance. 

Suggestion 

Police services keep the current rule of keeping conviction details on record until the offender turns 100, only for their own record. However, the record will not show on any background check such as DBS, Advanced DNS and Acro police report.

Or 

police services should drop the current rule of keeping conviction details on record until the offender turns 100. Those found guilty of shoplifting, drug possession or other minor crimes would be removed from the Police National Computer (PNC) database after 6 - 10 years.

Or 

Update the current Acro step-down module on minor crimes and remove "No live trace"/ "No further action" on the Acro police report as it still passively suggests a criminal history, preventing people from moving on with their lives.

Below is a brief guide to how other nations treat criminal convictions.

• Canada permanently deletes records of juvenile convictions once an individual turns 18 or after 5 years of turning 18. Murder, manslaughter, and aggravated sexual assault are never deleted. Canada also has a pardon system that allows adults to appeal for their records to be suspended and not disclosed if an individual can show good character and rehabilitation since the offense. Also in the USA individuals can apply to have their records expunged; this is for citizens under 18 and varies from state to state.

• Scotland does not disclose convictions if 15 years have passed or if an individual were 18 or over 18 at the date of conviction, 7 and half years if an individual were under 18 at the date of conviction

• Australia expunges juvenile convictions after 3 years of no repeat offending and has a pardon policy for adult convictions

• In Spain, conviction records are not erased completely but are ‘canceled’ in a process known as ‘canceling a conviction record’. Once conviction records are canceled, the individual will possess a clean criminal record. Therefore, the record of their convictions will be sealed in the Central Criminal Records Registry and is likely made unavailable to the police. To cancel a conviction record a period of time after having served the sentence must have elapsed (6 months, 2 years, 3 years or 5 years depending on the sentence); no further crime has been committed in the interim and civil compensation has been paid or the person has been declared without money.

• Ireland. If 3 years have lapsed juveniles records are wiped clean.

• In France for adults once the rehabilitation period has passed (depending on the severity of the conviction either three years for misdemeanors or five years for felony crimes, after the sentence was completed) the records of the convictions will remain on the system but will not show on the request of a record. In the case of minors and children, these are removed once the individual concerned has reached 18 years and/or three years from the date the crime was committed.

• In Germany most adult convictions are deleted after 5, 10, 15 or 20 years, respectively.