According to government figures released today, criminals on probation committed more than 1000 serious crimes over the last two years, including nearly one murder a week in England and Wales.
1,167 offences were committed while the offender was being supervised by the probation officer. The total included 94 murders, 105 rapes and 43 arson attacks. This year's Ministry of Justice figures showed a further 657 criminals on probation were found guilty of serious violent or sexual crimes. More than 400 other criminals are accused of committing serious further offences, but their cases have not yet come to trial. The details were revealed in the 2008 offender management caseload which reveals details about the scale of prison and probation workload.
At the same time in a separate study in the United States Carnegie Mellon University researchers have created a model for providing empirical evidence on when an ex-convict has been “clean” long enough to be considered “redeemed” for employment purposes. The new study, which appears in the current issue of Criminology, estimates that after five years of staying clean an individual with a criminal record is of no greater risk of committing another crime than other individuals of the same age. The research comes at a time when President Barack Obama’s crime agenda includes breaking down employment barriers for people who have a prior criminal record, but who have stayed clean since their earlier offense.
What this makes abundantly clear to HR directors is that they need to be aware if a potential employee has a criminal record prior to making a decision to employ. A criminal record should not necessarily prevent employment but being aware is being forearmed.
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