When do ex-offenders become like non-offenders?

When can ex-offenders with no further convictions be considered as exhibiting the same risk of reconviction as non-offenders? This issue is relevant for the retention and disclosure of early criminal records, and is a controversial issue. Replicating American work by Kurlychek and his colleagues (2006, 2007), this study focusing on England and Wales broadly endorses their findings by suggesting that groups whose members have either a finding of guilt as a juvenile or a conviction between the ages of 17 and 20 years – but no further convictions – converge with the non-offending group at around the age of 30 years, while the group whose members have findings of guilt as a juvenile and convictions as a young adult prior to 21 years eventually converges with the other groups at around the age of 35 years. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered.