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Law Institute of Victoria says minor crimes should be wiped from records
Less serious crimes should disappear from adults' criminal records a decade after they have been convicted, lawyers say.
In all other Australian states and territories, police are prevented from disclosing certain crimes people have committed to prospective employers, including older, less serious and irrelevant convictions and guilt findings. Victoria is the only state without a law to limit police disclosure of such crimes, known elsewhere as "spent convictions".
The Law Institute of Victoria has written to Attorney-General Martin Pakula saying that the Andrews government introduce a scheme for spent convictions. The submission, written by a number of its criminal lawyers, says that prison terms shorter than 30 months and sentences that carry no prison time should not be disclosed after a decade. The main exception would be for sexual offences, in line with all other state laws.
The Institute's president Katie Miller said: "The judgments made about a past conviction can have more long-term serious effects on a person's life than the court's original judgment and penalty. A spent convictions scheme is an important part of ensuring our justice system is about rehabilitation and not life-long punishments."
Last year, Victoria Police performed 481,945 criminal history checks, according to its annual report.
Most police did not release such information after 10 years have passed. But they still had a discretion to do so, and there were concerns when they disclosed a person was found guilty or a crime or given a good behaviour bond, even when no criminal conviction was recorded, the submission said.
Mr Pakula said the government would consult with the legal community on whether a spent convictions scheme "would assist Victorians who have come into contact with the justice system to find work and rehabilitate."
Victims of Crime Commissioner Greg Davies was not opposed to a spent convictions scheme, but said that police should retain some discretion to disclose older crimes in some cases, for example when the nature of the offending was relevant to the person's proposed job.
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