The impacts of an interaction with the criminal justice system are rarely confined to the criminal justice process. An increasing number of employers, volunteer organizations, and service providers are asking individuals to undergo a criminal record check, creating significant barriers to employment, housing, education, and other forms of meaningful community engagement. In some parts of Canada, a single interaction with police during a mental health crisis is sufficient for a person to have a ‘police record’ that can then be disclosed to their child’s school or their employer. You can read more about our past work on non-conviction police records, and the damage caused by disclosing this information, at www.ccla.org/recordchecks.
