Under British and Australian laws a jury in a criminal case has no access to information about the defendant's past criminal record. This protects the person who is being accused of the crime. Some lawyers have suggested that this practice should be changed and that a jury should be given all the past facts before they reach their decision about the case. Do you agree or disagree?

It is often argued that people who had criminal record previously should not be given because it can help to protect those defendants, while some attorneys believe that the past information of

criminals

needs to be released before making

case

decisions. In my perspective, I partly agree with

this

statement, as I think the past facts of

offenders

whether should be given depends on the situation of the

case

.

Firstly

, prohibit to access

criminals

previous criminal

records

would affect the decision of the

case

. Without understand the defendant's criminal histories, lawyers and judges may unable to make a fair decision.

This

means that legal officers may assign lesser chargers if they do not know the

offenders

are habitual

criminals

. As a consequence, those

criminals

may commit crime again after being released, as they are not severely fined.

However

, it is sometimes not fair to

offenders

if disclosing all the past facts of them, as some lawyers may make a rash decision based on

criminals

previous unfavourable

records

instead

of doing detailed investigations. Some

offenders

may committed crimes at their young age or cheated by others, and they had been punished

accordingly

. In

this

situation, these criminal

records

should not be considered as a reference to the current criminal

case

, as they committed crimes due to they were immature and innocent.

For example

, if a criminal made an offence at his teenage age, and

this

person committed a crime again when he is 30 years old,

then

legal officers should not take his previous criminal record into an account. In conclusion, despite the fact that disclosing a

offenders

' past criminal record may help lawyers and judges understand the

criminals

' background, while I think the information should be given according to the situations as some criminal

records

should not be taken into consideration.