// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Some childhood offenders may no longer have to reveal convictions to employers
Some job applicants in England and Wales would no longer need to declare criminal convictions they received as children under government proposals designed to improve the employment prospects of rehabilitated young people.
The changes would mean criminal records for people detained when they were under 18 years old would no longer show up for life during checks carried out by employers.
The Ministry of Justice has also launched a consultation on relaxing disclosure requirements for some specific drug-related and violent crimes committed by children.
Young people who have not re-offended as adults struggle to find work because of their past behaviour, the government says.
Many employers require applicants to undergo a background check, which in their most basic form require people to self-declare if they have a criminal record.
For more sensitive roles, such as working with children or joining the police, an employer can carry out a standard or enhanced check, which allows them to request information from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
How long a criminal record must be volunteered for or will show up in those checks differs depending on the severity of the offence, the punishment received and how long ago the crime was committed - sometimes referred to as whether a conviction is 'spent'.
For example, a young person who was convicted and fined for an offence when they were under-18 will have that information show up in checks for five-and-a-half years. If they were given a custodial sentence, that will be disclosed for the rest of their lives.
The government wants to reduce the number of young people those disclosure rules apply to if an applicant has not continued to offend as an adult.
Five offences would be removed from a list of crimes which will show up in background for checks for life if committed by an adult. They are: affray, violent disorder, supplying a controlled drug to a child, robbery and assaults occasioning actual bodily harm.