What is an unspent criminal conviction?
If you are convicted of a crime, that conviction will stay on public record, sometimes indefinitely. In the UK, some convictions can become spent and be removed from the record, meaning you have served time and passed through a conviction period. Until then, your conviction is unspent.FunctionThe unspent period is called a time of rehabilitation in which the convicted person does not re-offend after conviction and/or time served. After this time, your conviction is removed from public record.Time FrameSome criminal convictions remain unspent regardless of elapsed time. For example, any crime that required a prison sentence of more than 2½ years remains unspent.MinorsFor minors under 18 with criminal convictions, the unspent rehabilitation period is cut in half.DisclosureDuring unspent conviction time, a person must disclose convictions when applying for jobs and on other applications.U.S. CounterpartThe closest thing to an unspent conviction time in the United States is parole, a time
