Together with the charity Transform Justice, Unlock has launched the #FairChecks movement to help push for a fresh start for the criminal records system. Our outdated criminal records regime is holding hundreds of thousands of people back from participating fully in society. Even a minor criminal history can produce lifelong barriers to employment, volunteering, housing

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,

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

Unlock and the Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ) have written to the Justice Select Committee (JSC) regarding our concerns over the Government’s response to the JSC’s inquiry into the disclosure of childhood criminal records. Christopher Stacey, Co-director of Unlock, sets out our concerns that the Government is using the Supreme Court case on DBS

The latest blog by Christopher Stacey (published on the Huffington Post) questions the use of enhanced DBS checks as the answer to Oxfam’s safeguarding problems. Read it here.

With the disclosure of old and irrelevant criminal records in the spotlight, Christopher Stacey looks at how the system is unfairly holding people back Over four million jobs every year involve employers requesting an enhanced criminal record from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Although these were originally for roles that involve close contact with

Three-quarters of a million criminal records that are more than a decade old are being revealed to employers on DBS checks each year. That’s one of the findings of a new briefing published by the Centre for Criminal and Justice Studies (CCJS). The research, which we have supported, was featured in The Observer on Sunday

The latest blog by Christopher Stacey looks at David Lammy’s recommendation to ‘seal’ criminal records and explains why it’s a good idea and how it could work. Read it here.

The latest blog by Christopher Stacey looks at whether the supermarket in EastEnders broke the law in doing a DBS on Derek? And why did a historic decriminalised offence show up on his disclosure? Read it here.

Earlier today our co-director, Christopher Stacey, gave evidence to the Justice Committee’s inquiry into the disclosure of youth criminal records. You can watch the session here or below.   More information Posts about our work on youth criminal records can be found here. The specific details of the inquiry are here There are more general

Our written evidence to the Justice Committee’s inquiry into the disclosure of youth criminal records has been published on the Parliament website. Alongside a number of recommendations, we’ve included five anonymous personal experiences. Next week, we’re taking a small group of people to Westminster to share their personal stories with MP’s on the Committee.   The specific

As part of the Justice Committee’s inquiry into the disclosure of youth criminal records, we’re taking a small group of people to Westminster to share their personal stories with MP’s on the Committee. It’s a really good opportunity to make sure that the Committee hears from people with personal experience of living with a criminal