Unauthorised disclosure of spent convictions

Q: Is article 10(2) of Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 a strict liability offence?

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

article 10(2) of Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978

In force
Objective fault
Summary only
Miscellaneous

The instrument creating this offence has not been revoked so far as the data shows.

What the provision says

2 Subject to the provisions of any order made under paragraph (5), any person who, in the course of his official duties, has or at any time has had custody of or access to any official record or the information contained therein, shall be guilty of an offence if, knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect that any specified information he has obtained in the course of those duties is specified information, he discloses it, otherwise than in the course of those duties, to another person.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds: a person
Conduct: breaching the provision
Fault element: Objective fault
Burden of proof: No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

What a person personally believed or intended is not the question; the standard is what was reasonable.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: reasonable cause to suspect.

What would breach article 10(2)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

On these words an offence is committed where a person has or at any time has had custody of or access to any official record or the information contained therein.
Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine: £2,500
Standard scale: Level 4
Maximum prison (summary): 6 months

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status: In force
Made: 20 December 1978
In force from: Not determined
Extent: N.I.

How this was established: read from the revised (currently in force) text.

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill (Fifth sitting) Commons · 2 July 2020 · Chris Philp
I thank the Committee for its rousing endorsement of the previous schedule. The purpose of clause 24 is to make amendments to provide for a new terrorism sentence with a fixed licence period. This is necessary to ensure an approach consistent with Northern Irish law. The Treatment of Offenders Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 is amended to ensure that any offender may have the length of their terrorism sentence reduced…
Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill (Eighth sitting) Commons · 7 July 2020 · Chris Philp
The purpose of the amendments is to remove unnecessary consequential amendments, which included a reference to a serious terrorism sentence in sections 273 and 274 of the sentencing code, which was advanced when the Bill was presented to Parliament. Paragraph (a) is removed to ensure legal clarity and the effect is to remove these amendments from the Bill. Amendment 14 agreed to. Amendment s made: 15, schedule 13,…
National Security Bill (Fifth sitting) Commons · 14 July 2022 · Stephen McPartland
I am grateful for the support for the amendments. Amendment 13 agreed to. Amendments made: 14, in schedule 3, page 82, line 22, leave out “or 42”. This amendment removes reference to paragraph 42 of Schedule 3 to the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 from a list of provisions under which fingerprints, data and other samples may be taken. Reference to paragraph 42 is not needed because its contents are…
National Security Bill (Eleventh sitting) Commons · 8 September 2022 · Tom Tugendhat
I do appreciate that elements are being raised about which I will write to various Committee members, and I will follow up on areas that I have not covered in detail. Although the operational use of biometrics remains the same across provisions, we are taking a different approach to the powers provided under STPIMs and the powers in schedule 3. That ensures the right balance and proportionality in tackling foreign…

Other offences in the same instrument

Unauthorised disclosure of spent convictionsarticle 10(4)
Rehabilitation of persons dealt with in service disciplinary proceedingsarticle 4(1)

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis: the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence: 0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
MiscellaneousOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1978