The Impact of a Criminal Conviction on Your Life

A criminal conviction in NSW will impact and complicate day-to-day life in several ways. A criminal record represents a person’s past actions for many years and this negative association will leave a black mark in numerous aspects of life. Most first-time offenders are motivated to live a law-abiding life and pursue full-time employment. However, most offenders realise a criminal record leads to numerous rejections when applying for jobs.

Certain criminal convictions might not follow an offender for a lifetime, but it is better to avoid convictions whenever possible. Avoiding a conviction is far better than living with a conviction. A criminal conviction can have an impact on the following aspects of life:

·        Employment

·        Renting a house, or commercial property

·        Reputation in the community

·        Travel

·        Adoption

·        Personal life

·        Difficulty to obtain finance or insurance

·        Difficulty to obtain professional, security, or firearm licences

·        Harsher sentences for new convictions

·        Difficulty to avoid conviction for a new charge

Employment

A criminal record has the potential to prevent a person from getting a job. This might be one of the harshest consequences of having a criminal record. Employers are free to hire employees with a criminal record. However, employers are nervous to consider employing a person with any criminal convictions, even more so if the person were charged with violence, sexual assault, or dishonesty. Most employers will conduct background checks such as a national police check to make sure they deter crime inside their business. 

Employers tend to reject job seekers with criminal convictions, this makes finding a job after serving a sentence challenging and overwhelming. However, it is important not to lie about a criminal record when applying for employment. An employer can in certain circumstances obtain a copy of a person’s criminal record and an employer can terminate the employment contract if the employee applied under false pretences. On the other hand, a person who is honest about their criminal record might have a chance to get a job.

There is no federal law in Australia and no law in NSW that prohibits a person from criminal record discrimination. The Australian Human Rights Commission can investigate complaints of criminal record employment discrimination as a human rights violation under the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986, but it can only mediate conciliation, there is no effective enforcement mechanism available. 

In NSW there are certain careers or types of employment where people with a criminal record may not be employed. Some professional and occupational licensing bodies have developed licensing and registration rules to address the relevance of a person’s criminal record to a particular profession for instance in the health, or the legal profession. Professions or trades restrict the participation of people with a criminal record or they thoroughly scrutinise a person’s criminal record before their admission, registration, or licensing. 

The protection of children in Australia is very important. All the jurisdictions in Australia have made a policy decision that the criminal records of people working with children will be scrutinised. In some instances, employers are prohibited to hire employees who have certain convictions. The Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 1988 in NSW forbids individuals who were convicted of certain sex offences to work in child-related work environments such as schools or child care.

Renting a House

A landlord can see a criminal record on rental applications as a risk. They will do a thorough criminal record check when they receive a rental application or they might even ask about a criminal record on the application form. A criminal charge might most likely be one of the deciding factors in accepting or denying a rental application. A person with criminal convictions might therefore have difficulty finding a place to live.

A new policy in NSW does not allow a person who has been convicted of a serious drug offence in five years to live in public housing. This might prompt offenders to return to crime, and this contradicts the “public safety” rationale of this new policy. 

Reputation in the Community

A criminal conviction or history will possibly affect a person’s reputation in the community and people will perceive a person differently. People will most likely act with more caution around a person with a criminal record and often exclude them from social or community events.  A criminal conviction will have a negative impact for a very long time. 

Travel

A person with a criminal record might have difficulty when traveling. Most countries conduct a criminal record check before issuing a visa for travel and some countries might make entry difficult, regardless of the charge. A criminal history check might also affect applying for a passport and result in a time-consuming process. 

Australia has a close relationship with the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom. All these countries have access to the National Repository of Criminal Records. Every criminal record holder and the relevant offence they committed are listed here. An officer can enter a person’s name or scan a passport to find out if a person has a criminal record. 

Adoption

The adoption process in Australia is very strict and adoption agencies want to ensure the safety of children. A criminal record will affect getting custody of a child and can limit the opportunity to adopt a child.