Check if you need to tell someone about your criminal record
Prison sentences
A court might:
- give you a prison sentence if you’re 18 or over
- give you a detention order (‘detention and training order’) if you’re under 18
- order you to stay in hospital instead of prison (‘hospital order’) if there are concerns about your mental health
A court can decide to delay a prison sentence for up to 2 years as long as you meet certain conditions. This is known as ‘suspended’.
Whether a sentence is ‘spent’ affects what information you need to give a potential employer, university or college.
When a prison sentence becomes spent
When your prison sentence becomes spent depends on the:
- length of your prison sentence
- type of offence you committed, if your prison sentence is longer than 4 years
| Length of your sentence | When it becomes spent |
|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | 12 months after the sentence ends |
| 12 months to 4 years | 4 years after the sentence ends |
| Longer than 4 years | 7 years after the sentence ends (unless you were convicted of a serious violent, sexual, or terrorist offence) |
If you were convicted of a serious violent, sexual, or terrorist offence
Your sentence is never spent if it was for longer than 4 years.
If your prison sentence was ‘suspended’ or you were released early
The full length of the prison sentence affects when it becomes spent - not the amount of the time it was suspended for or how long you were in prison.
Example
A court gave you a 3 year prison sentence on 5 May 2021.
You were released early (‘on parole’) on 5 May 2023.
Your sentence ends on 5 May 2024 and becomes spent on 5 May 2028.
When a detention order becomes spent
When your sentence becomes spent depends on the:
- length of your detention sentence
- type of offence you committed, if your detention sentence is longer than 4 years
| Length of your sentence | When it becomes spent |
|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | 6 months after the sentence ends |
| 12 months to 4 years | 2 years after the sentence ends |
| Longer than 4 years | 3 years 6 months after the sentence ends (unless you were convicted of a serious violent, sexual, or terrorist offence) |
If you were convicted of a serious violent, sexual, or terrorist offence
Your detention sentence will never become spent if it was for longer than 4 years.
When a hospital order becomes spent
A hospital order becomes spent either:
- on the date it ends
- 2 years after you got it, if there’s no end date.