Commenting on today’s announcement (15 July) by the Ministry of Justice on plans to make changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, Christopher Stacey, co-director of Unlock, said: “Unlock very much welcomes and supports today’s announcement by the Justice Secretary. If his commitment proceeds to statute, it will mean more people with criminal records

Today we’ve published research on the impact of criminal records as perceived by people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. New data in the report, Double discrimination?, shows that over three-quarters of people surveyed (78%) felt their ethnicity made it harder for them to overcome the problems they faced as a result of

The 28th March saw a Westminster Hall debate on the disclosure of youth criminal records (read here or watch here). This followed the publication of the Justice Select Committee’s report on the subject, back in 2017. The report itself was a result of the Committee’s inquiry into disclosure of youth criminal records, launched in 2016,

Update – The request for participants is now closed. See the message below from Nicola, the researcher: “Thank you to everyone who has been in contact with me with their generous offer to take part in my PhD research. I have been overwhelmed with responses and now have enough participants that fit the criteria, so

  There has been a significant amount of press and media attention on the judgment of the Supreme Court which ruled that the criminal records disclosure scheme as it applies to multiple convictions and childhood warnings/reprimands was found to be disproportionate. Our co-director, Christopher Stacey, gave interviews on the day of the judgment which were featured

Unlock’s Christopher Stacey talks to Joshua Rozenberg about the issues affecting those who receive criminal convictions in childhood. They also discuss the impending result of the Government’s appeal to the Supreme Court against a Court of Appeal decision which ruled that the current system of people having to declare old and minor records is unnecessary, disproportionate and

Following the publication of Unlock’s  A question of fairness report, Co-director Christopher Stacey speaks to Radio Sussex’s Danny Pike. The report finds that the vast majority of national companies continue to have criminal record declarations as a core part of their initial job application forms. By doing so, employers are not only potentially acting unlawfully but are also missing

Unlock has today published new research that shows the vast majority of national companies continuing to have criminal record declarations as a core part of their initial job application forms. Marking the 5-year anniversary of the Ban the Box campaign, the findings reveal the extent to which national employers have failed to recognise the negative

Today we have submitted our written response to the government’s call for evidence on the employment for people with convictions. Download our submission here. You can find out more about the call for evidence in our recent post to encourage others to get involved. Our submission draws on work that we’ve been doing as part

The Cabinet Office (in partnership with the Ministry of Justice) are calling for evidence on the employment for people with convictions, and they want to hear from employers about recruitment practices, employability initiatives and evidence/impact. As well as employers, the Cabinet Office want to hear from organisations or professionals who: work with people with convictions

We’ve launched a CrowdJustice appeal to help us raise money to pay for our legal costs in intervening in the Supreme Court next month. In June, the Supreme Court will hear the appeal of the Government which is arguing that their current approach to disclosing old and minor criminal record on standard and enhanced DBS checks, often

Unlock, the country’s leading charity for people with convictions, has today published research on the impact of criminal records acquired in childhood and early adulthood. New data in the report, A life sentence for young people, shows that hundreds of thousands of people are being affected every year, and often many decades later, because of