Fitzroy Legal Service Inc and Job Watch Inc, Criminal Records in Victoria: Proposals for Reform (2005) 8.
2.
Department of Justice (Vic), Working with Children Bill 2005, Discussion Paper (2004).
3.
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Discrimination in Employment on the Basis of Criminal Record: Discussion Paper (2004) (‘HREOC Discussion Paper’).
4.
Standing Committee of Attorneys-General: see Department of Justice (Vic), Uniform Spent Convictions: A Proposed Model — Discussion Paper: August 2004 (2004).
Australian Institute of Criminology, Australian Crime: Facts and Figures 2003 (2004).
8.
See, eg, Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) s 5(4).
9.
AIC, above n 7, 73.
10.
For example, in Victoria, 82% of men and 90% of women who received prison sentences in 2000–01, received sentences of 12 months or less: Office of the Correctional Services Commissioner (Vic), Statistical Overview of the Victorian Prison System (2003).
11.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Prisoners in Australia (2003).
12.
BorzyckiMariaBaldryEileen (Australian Institute of Criminology), Promoting Integration: The Provision of Prisoner Post-Release Services, Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice Paper No 262 (2003).
13.
Ibid. It should be recognised that many people leaving prison have multiple forms of disadvantage which may affect their capacity to gain employment and to avoid re-offending, besides the specific issue of criminal record discrimination. Other forms of disadvantage include previous unemployment, limited job skills, poor educational levels, and medical and family difficulties.
14.
See, eg, Social Exclusion Unit, Office of the Prime Minister (UK), Reducing Re-offending by Ex-prisoners (2002).
15.
Home Office (UK), Breaking the Circle: A Report of the Review of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (2002) 75.
16.
MetcalfeHilary, Tracy Anderson and Heather Rolfe, Department for Work and Pensions (UK), Barriers to Employment for Offenders and Ex-offenders, Research Report No 155 (2001) 4.
17.
GarlandDavid, The Culture of Control (2001) 194–5.
18.
MetcalfeAndersonRolfe, above n 16, 4.
19.
Ibid.
20.
See ‘blue card’ scheme under the Commission for Young People and Children Act2000 (Qld); the ‘Working with Children Check’ under the Children and Young People Act1998 (NSW); the ‘Assessment Notice’ under the Working with Children (Criminal Record Checking) Act 2004 (WA). The Working with Children Draft Bill 2005 (Vic) would preclude employment of anyone with a record of serious sexual offences, with discretion to exclude where there are other violent and drug-related offences.
21.
See, eg, Legal Profession Act 2004 (Vic) ss 1.2.6, 2.3.3; Legal Practice Act 2003 (WA) s 39.
22.
Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) s 206B.
23.
See generally HREOC Discussion Paper, above n 3, 22.
24.
MetcalfAndersonRolfe, above n 16.
25.
PagerDevah, ‘The Mark of a Criminal Record’ (2003) 108American Journal of Sociology937. Pager found that ex-offenders were one half to one third as likely to be considered by a potential employer compared to equivalent applicants with no criminal record. Metcalfe, Anderson and Rolfe had similar findings: MetcalfeAndersonRolfe, above n 16, 104.
26.
See WesternBruceKlingJeffreyWeimanDavid, ‘The Labor Market Consequences of Incarceration’ (2001) 47Crime and Delinquency410, 412.
27.
WesternKlingWeiman, above n 26, 7.
28.
GiguereRachelleDundesLauren, ‘Help Wanted: A Survey of Employer Concerns about Hiring Ex-Convicts’ (2002) 13Criminal Justice Policy Review396. This study found greatest concerns regarding hiring ex-offenders related to offenders' lack of people skills (82% of respondents) and customer discomfort (81%).
29.
Pager, above n 25, 942.
30.
HREOC Discussion Paper, above n 3, 7.
31.
In 2002 Indigenous people were imprisoned at a rate 12 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous people: AIC, above n 7, 79. See generally CunneenChrisMcDonaldDavid, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Keeping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People out of Custody: An Evaluation of the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1997).
32.
See Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Submission on the Uniform Spent Convictions Discussion Paper (2004).
33.
Ibid.
34.
Pager, above n 25, 939.
35.
HREOC Discussion Paper, above n 3, 47. The information kept is governed by legislation in each jurisdiction: see, eg, Office of Public Service Merit and Equity (Queensland), Guidelines: Criminal Record Checking.
Crimes Act 1914 (Cth); Criminal Records Act 1991 (NSW); Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 (Qld); Spent Convictions Act 2000 (ACT); Criminal Records (Spent Convictions) Act 1992 (NT); Spent Convictions Act 1988 (WA); Annulled Convictions Act 2003 (Tas).
39.
See summary of Australian schemes in HREOC Discussion Paper, above n 3, appendix C. For a summary of schemes in other countries, see Home Office (UK), above n 15, annex D.
40.
See HREOC Discussion Paper, above n 3, 53–4.
41.
As with the legislative schemes, exemptions are also applied in Victoria for serious offences of violence or sex offences, for offences leading to long prison terms, and for checks for employment in relation to vulnerable people or in sensitive areas such as police, prisons and the gaming industry. There is also a general exemption in ‘exceptional circumstances where the release of information is in the interest of crime prevention or the administration of justice’: see ‘Information Sheet — Information Release Policy’ (2005) Victoria Police <www.police.vic.gov.au/files/documents/422_Information-Release-Policy.pdf> at 31 May 2005.
42.
See HREOC Discussion Paper, above n 3, 14.
43.
Some useful resources in relation to workplaces with the care of children are collected at the National Child Protection Clearinghouse Website (2004) <www.aifs.gov.au/nch/policechecks.html> at 31 May 2005.
44.
See discussion and recommendations in PILCH Homeless Persons' Legal Clinic, Discrimination in Employment on the Basis of Criminal Record: Submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (2005).
See, eg, Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) ss 8(1)(c), 8(2).
47.
Fitzroy Legal Service and Job Watch, above n 1, 13.
48.
Letter to the Editor, The Age (Melbourne) 9 April 2005, 8.
49.
See PILCH, above n 44, 23–7; Fitzroy Legal Service and Job Watch, above n 1, recommendations 11–13.
50.
For a Victorian survey, see Fitzroy Legal Service and Job Watch, above n 1. A UK study also found little understanding of the operation of spent conviction regimes by either employers or ex-offenders: Home Office (UK), above n 15.
