The use of criminal record checking has dramatically increased over the last 10-15 years, leading to concerns that ex-offenders are disadvantaged in seeking employment and therefore at greater risk of engaging in reoffending. In order to better understand why and how employers are using criminal record checks, a two-stage empirical research project was conducted involving a survey of and interviews with HR managers across a wide variety of industries. As indicated, a number of disadvantages to the wholesale use of criminal record checking in employment have been identified previously, such as obstructing the reintegration of ex-offenders and encouraging recidivism, limiting the labour pool, and exposing the organisation to discrimination claims and to the overreliance on a single type of risk assessment. This research, therefore, seeks to understand how these disadvantages are apparently outweighed from an employer's perspective by opposing factors in the recruitment process
