Criminal Records and Life Chances: How to facilitate ‘hope’ for people with convictions?

In this event we will be joined by Nicola Collett and Justin Williams, who will discuss the theme ‘hope’ as it relates to criminal records and life chances. It is widely recognised that a criminal record can be a barrier for accessing a wide range of opportunities and services including employment, housing, insurance and international travel. This can be through formal legislation and policy, or through more informal stigma and discrimination. Experiencing exclusion and/or discrimination can have affective implications for an individual, and lead to self-exclusion from legitimate opportunities. Reflecting on this today’s guests will ask ‘who is responsible for facilitating hope?’ and discuss how this might look like drawing on their PhD research.

To begin the session Nicola will provide a brief overview of criminal record disclosure policy/practice in England and Wales. Then, she will explore the relationship between ‘hope’, personal agency and criminal records to demonstrate why this is an important topic of conversation. Finally, Nicola will reflect on who is responsible for facilitating hope cautioning against placing a further burden on former lawbreakers.