Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004

This act came into force on 29 November 2004.

The act is designed to allow individuals with less serious convictions, who have not been convicted for at least seven years, to wipe the slate clean.  Eligible individuals will be able to conceal their prior convictions in most circumstances.

If an individual meets the required criteria, they are deemed to have no criminal record for the purposes of answering any inquiry concerning their prior convictions, and have the right to have their record concealed by government and law enforcement agencies that have access to their criminal record.  The clean slate scheme applies to every question asked about, and every request made for the disclosure of, an eligible individual’s criminal record.  This simply means, that an eligible individual may answer a question asked of him or her about his or her criminal record by stating that he or she has no criminal record.

In order to be considered eligible, an individual must:

• Not have been convicted of a crime within the last seven years.
• Never have been sentenced to a custodial sentence i.e. prison or corrective training.
• Never have been ordered to spend time in a hospital due to his/her mental condition, during a criminal case.
• Not have been convicted of a “specified offence” i.e. sexual offending against children, young people or the mentally impaired.
• Have paid in full any fines, reparation, or costs ordered by the Court in a criminal case
• Never have been indefinitely disqualified from driving.

It is not necessary to apply for a clean slate – those that are eligible are automatically covered by the scheme and their convictions will be concealed.

If convictions continue to exist on an individual’s criminal record, they do not meet the eligibility criteria.

If, at any time after becoming an eligible individual, an individual is convicted of an offence, they are no longer deemed eligible under the clean slate scheme.

Exceptions to the effect of the clean slate scheme include eligible individuals that have made an application for employment:

• In a position that involves the national security of New Zealand
• As a judge, a justice of the peace, or community magistrate
• As a member of the police, prison officer, probation officer or security officer
• In a role predominantly involving the care and protection of, but not predominantly involving the care of education to a child or young persons.