Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

What is a spent conviction and how do you know you have one?


Asked on 3/03/10, 10:21 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

The last time I had one of these(spent convictions), I was at the roulette table at Binion"s Horseshoe Casino in Vegas, and put it all on the red and it came up green.

More seriously, a spent conviction apparently is a term out of the law of the U.K.

referring to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act passed by the parliament in 1974 which allows certain convictions to be ignored after the prescribed rehabilitation period has passed, and, with certain exceptions, the convicted person is no longer required to report them on job or insurance applications, in civil proceedings, etc.

It should be emphasized that this particular Act refers to the law of the United Kingdom and has nothing to do with nor application to American law (which, obviously, is what this particular forum is concerned with).

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Answered on 3/09/10, 8:08 am


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