Thousands wrongly labelled as criminals 2


Tom Whitehead writes in the Daily Telegraph about errors in Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks:

The true number of people who were wrongly linked to crimes or misrepresented is ten times greater than annual Home Office figures suggest, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

The scale of errors made in background checks was only revealed through Freedom of Information requests.

Annual error statistics published by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) regularly suggested around 200 people are wrongly accused each year.

However, those figures only refer to errors made directly by CRB staff when carrying out checks and disclosing information.

Once errors made by other agencies who contribute to background checks, such as the police and education officials, are included, the figures run in to the thousands.

Since 2003, a total 19,551 disputes over inaccurate CRB checks have been upheld.

For 2010/11, the official inaccuracy figure stood at 172, but the new statistics show the true level of error for that year was 2,343.


2 thoughts on “Thousands wrongly labelled as criminals

  • Tom Welsh

    I’m quite surprised that people go on applying for jobs that require those CRB checks. In the medium to long term, I expect this sort of thing to contribute slightly, but distinctly, to a decrease in the numbers of new teachers, etc.

    It’s reasonable to take practical, common sense measures to protect children. But it’s unreasonable to expect decent, hard-working professional people to put up with the simplistic – and ineffectual – measures laid down by politicians to make life easier for themselves (and grab a few quick votes).

  • Tom Welsh

    I’m quite surprised that people go on applying for jobs that require those CRB checks. In the medium to long term, I expect this sort of thing to contribute slightly, but distinctly, to a decrease in the numbers of new teachers, etc.

    It’s reasonable to take practical, common sense measures to protect children. But it’s unreasonable to expect decent, hard-working professional people to put up with the simplistic – and ineffectual – measures laid down by politicians to make life easier for themselves (and grab a few quick votes).

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