We are here today with Bob Ashford and Simon Weston.
Gentlemen, please tell us about the campaign.
The campaign is really about trying to get a fair deal for people with criminal convictions.
My own story is when I was 13 years old, which was 48 years ago,
I was charged in fan guilty of two minor offenses.
For the last 48 years, I've had to disclose those offenses every time I've tried to get a job,
every time I've applied for insurance, every time I've gone for a range of things.
I have to disclose those two convictions.
It's wrong. Criminal convictions should not be a live sentence.
For me, they have been so far, but it's time for a change.
And that's why we support the campaign here in Northern Ireland
to bring about greater change in the law than currently is being planned.
There are changes planned. As far as we're concerned, they don't go far enough.
My own situation would be that I would still have to disclose my convictions
even after those changes become part of the law.
And the acrobatics were supporting a much more bolder attempt
in criminal convictions, minor criminal convictions,
wiped from young people's records and from adult's records.
We're only talking about one or two offenses.
We're not talking about very serious crimes.
We have to keep everything in context.
We're not saying that people shouldn't be punished, they shouldn't be judged.
No, that's quite correct. Everything should follow all the normal lines.
But what we're saying is, for somebody that's made a poor choice or has been daft,
it shouldn't be a life sentence.
It shouldn't bar them from education, training, furtherment in jobs,
applying for better jobs, being able to create a better life for themselves.
What we're asking for is for the politicians here to see a way forward,
to actually see an enlightened choices being made so that people can have a better life.
The phrase we've heard in the last couple of days is about incentivising rehabilitation.
And the problem is at the moment, is that many young people, when they're told,
well, actually, you're going to have to continue to disclose these convictions,
think, well, hey, what's the point? I may as well carry on offending.
Because if they think, every time they apply for a job, every time they apply to go to college,
they're going to be knocked back and they're not going to get that job
and they're not going to get that college place, then why should they bother?
Giving young people a chance.
So you think these changes that are being proposed will have a positive effect on society and therefore for everyone?
There's two issues there. The changes as they're currently drafted or being drafted,
going before the Justice Committee, do not go far enough.
As I say, they would still mean that I would have to disclose my two convictions.
They don't go far enough. It's in everyone's interests, everyone's interests.
It's not just about young people. This is about us giving young people the opportunity,
giving adults the opportunity to be full and productive members of society,
paying taxes, working with families and children, everything else.
That benefits them, it benefits us as taxpayers, it benefits the whole community.
The system as it stands at the moment allows filtering, but that's only for one minor offence.
If you have two minor offences, then you don't get it wiped away, you don't get it expunged.
So you are then in a situation where you cannot apply for so much and you're having to put that down for the rest of your life.
And you may have only done two stupid things or three stupid things and never done another thing then for 10 or 15 or 20 years.
It's nearly 39 years since I made a mistake, but that would be expunged from my record now under the filtering system.
But for Bob, he can never, ever wipe that away because of two minor offences.
And at the age of 61, surely, as he not paid his due to society, he's not criminal number one and neither am I.
And neither are most of these youngsters who've only done stupid things.
They're not going to be a problem for society.
What we have to do, though, is to stop them being a victim of revenge because that's what it must feel like.
You don't throw a glass of water to a drowning man.
And for some of these kids, when they try to go on to further education, further training schemes,
they can be disbarred from those and seriously, you just throw a glass of water to that drowning man.
