Understanding the influence of an early life criminal record on adult life courses; preliminary findings and reflections

The collateral consequences of a criminal record are increasingly being recognised by scholars researching both de facto and de jure practices which often result in those who have ‘served’ their punishment, facing further exclusion and discrimination. This presentation introduces doctoral research which uses Free Association Narrative Interviewing to gain insight into the lived experiences of adult men and women, now aged 25 and older, who are living in the UK with a criminal record relating to one or more non-custodial sentence(s) attained between the ages of 10-25. This presentation will outline how ‘youth’ criminal records are treated England and Wales, highlight why research must go beyond the arbitrary legal juvenile and adult criminal record distinctions thus, discuss ‘youth’ criminal records and, share preliminary findings from the empirical research. The narratives and quotes of participants will be used to highlight the following: 1) how a criminal record can affect individuals both positively and negatively; 2) how key ‘events’ highlighted by participants reveal that criminal records can play an active role in shaping lives, often after many years of successful desistance; and 3) how participants themselves have reflected on the spatial and temporal context of their criminal record.