Falling foul of the law is something that can happen to the best of people. Unfortunately, though, criminal convictions result in a criminal record that does not just go away.
Once you have a record, you are likely to have to navigate an extra set of obstacles in your life that what your pre-conviction self had to deal with.
Things like finding a job and taking out a loan will present new challenges as your criminal record is freely available to employers and creditors and will usually influence any decision regarding your applications.
While resuming your life after you have paid back your debt to society is possible, it is important to be aware of some of the following challenges that you will encounter.
1. Career/Employment
Employment laws in most countries give employers the right to fire their employees if they are charged with a crime.
If you are then convicted and fined, given a community service order or are forced to serve a prison sentence, you may find it difficult to find work on your release in a number of industries. That includes education, child care, health care and law enforcement and is due to the criminal record checks that are done as standard.
2. Credit Score
While having a criminal record will not negatively affect your credit score directly, the fallout from having to go to prison may well have a knock-on effect.
If you go to prison for a long period, banks are at liberty to close your accounts due to long periods of inactivity, which may reflect badly on your suitability for credit application approvals.
Additionally, any outstanding loans that you were in the process of paying back at the time of your conviction but have subsequently defaulted on will not go unnoticed in your credit report.
3. Travel
In some cases, having a criminal record can make it more difficult to travel to certain countries.
One such country is the USA, which is known to be extremely strict in terms of its entry requirements. You are likely to be rejected if you have any kind of criminal record, no matter how old it is or how minor the crime.
Other countries like Canada and the UK are also similarly strict. The UK will allow entry for individuals whose convictions are considered to have been “spent”, though, meaning that 10 years have elapsed since your conviction. However, this rule only applies to prison terms of under 30 months.
A criminal conviction resulting in a record is something that you should avoid at all costs.
Once you have been convicted, many doors close for you and your life is often permanently changed for the worse.
The most obvious advice if you want to avoid the complications mentioned in this article is to not get convicted in the first place.