In accordance with the laws in a country, the police maintain a criminal record of every criminal, irrespective of the nature of the crime he or she has committed. Individuals have the right to access this information at any point in their lives, depending on the situation at hand.
The same laws also require certain individuals to authorize a criminal record check for themselves. This is required for those individuals who live or work with, unsupervised adults or children, who may or may not be vulnerable. The specific act that deals with these checks is the Criminal Records Review Act. The authorization is then given to the organization that the individual works for.
This act and the requirement for the issuance of a criminal record check are important to the society because it helps protect the rights of other individuals in society.