This is not a simple yes/no question.
Firstly, it's important to remember that organisations who refuse to take on any volunteer with a criminal record cannot claim to be operating equal opportunities. By refusing to treat people as individuals and looking at each case on its own merits organisations would be operating on the basis of naked prejudice.
In choosing not to take on people with criminal records organisations would also be cutting themselves off from a large number of potential volunteers. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development,
- More than five million people in the UK have convictions for crimes that could have involved imprisonment.
- One in three men under 30 years of age have criminal records.
- It is estimated that at least 20% of the working population has a criminal record.
Why should, for example, a ten year old conviction for shoplifting prevent someone from volunteering on a gardening project?
One of the provisos of becoming a registered body under the Criminal Records Bureau is that the organisation should have a written policy on the recruitment of ex-offenders and sign up to the CRB 'code of practice', which includes:
- guidance on at what stage of the application process disclosures should be sought
- when and how applicants should be informed of the need for a disclosure
- how information should be stored and handled.
Regular spot checks will be made by the CRB to check that organisations are sticking to the Code, with particular emphasis on how information is stored and handled. However whether or not organisations are treating ex-offenders fairly will be much harder to assess.
Under the Protection of children act 1999 and Court services Act 2000 it is an offence to knowingly employ anyone with a conviction for offences against children namely; murder, manslaughter, rape, GBH and a number of sexual offences, to work with people under 18. However aside from this there are no set guidelines on which other offences would make and individual unsuitable to work with vulnerable people. The CRB have issued a list of 'considerations' to take into account:
- whether the conviction is relevant to the position
- the seriousness of the offence
- the length of time since the offence occurred
- whether the applicant has a pattern of offending behaviour
- whether the applicant's circumstances have changed
- the circumstances surrounding the offence and explanation offered by the applicant
Even taking this guidance into consideration, whether or not to take on an individual with a criminal record, will remain almost entirely subjective and could well mean that many people are being unfairly discriminated against and that organisations are losing out on perfectly capable and safe staff and volunteers. It will be a challenge for the sector as a whole to work together to develop good practice guidelines to ensure that the over 5 million people in this country with convictions for a crime which could have involved imprisonment are not written off as potential staff and volunteers. A balance has to be struck between the need to protect vulnerable individuals and the need allow everybody to have a place and a purpose within the community.
