Yes, and I have. He was a young lad at school, not fairing well in the education system and he went AWOL. He got into alcohol and drugs. Long story short, he ended up in prison at 19 for burglary, one in a long line of many to fund his habit.
He came out, got a truly crappy basic wage job after trying for two years which is when I met him (this is a long time ago), at night school and he was honest about his struggles and told my Mum about his past voluntarily. She told him straight up he gets a chance, but any sign of betraying the trust and he was gone. My mum called him a rough diamond who would go one way or the other big time. When he left prison, he stayed away from the "wrong crowd" no matter how they tried to suck him back in, and they did. It was really tough for him but he had support and a lot of ex cons do not.
He ended up getting a degree and holds down a good job now and he had more than paid his dues. But that period of his life has come back to haunt him so many times, in his personal and work life.
I still know him now as a good if distant friend and he has made one hell of a Dad.
If you have kids, you should wait a while to introduce any partner to them and this is particularly important with people with records as you need to ensure they do not glorify their criminality, any sign of that and off they go!
In my mind, judge a person on who they are when you meet them and how honest they are about their criminal past. I think this is particularly important with those who have broken the law in their teens. For me there would be certain exceptions, like child abuse, rape, battering OAPs etc. I believe in giving people 2nd chances but informed 2nd chances.