A year ago, almost to the day, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck solemnly promised in his contribution to the sectoral debate to bring legislative action to widen the categories of people who could qualify for expungement of their criminal records.

We thought Mr Chuck was serious because he told the country at the time that expungement of criminal records continued to be one of the most demanded services offered by his ministry.

In his own words, Mr Chuck acknowledged: “Expungement is an area that the Ministry of Justice comes under a lot of complaints and [receives] a lot of applications.”

In support of his disclosure, he noted that the Justice Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Board had approved 1,200 applications from more than 2,322 people seeking to have their criminal records erased.

Instead of legislative action, apparently, Mr Chuck has merely cut that section of his 2023/24 sectoral presentation and pasted it in his 2024/25 contribution, then proceeded to deliver it as if it were some new plan that nobody was going to notice.

Last week Tuesday, the wily minister told Parliament that the Government was “exploring the possibility of giving more persons the opportunity to benefit from expungement”, and again promised to make a Cabinet submission “for consideration and possible approval”.

We wonder if government ministers understand that their many failed promises are only a Google click away. It’s a political game they seem to play, grabbing the headlines with their fancy plans, then trotting them out the following year, hoping to catch the media sleeping.

Expungement, which involves the formal removal of a conviction from an individual’s criminal/police record after a specific period of time has elapsed and after certain requirements have been met, commands the support of both political parties — among the few things they agree on.

The statute which authorises the expungement of criminal records is the Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act, 1988, one of the last acts of the 1980-89 Edward Seaga Administration.

On Tuesday, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) staged a floral tribute and reflection at the shrine of Mr Seaga at National Heroes’ Park. Instead of nice-sounding words in his honour, better that they had been able to announce that they had delivered on the expungement promise.

There are many Jamaicans who did wrong and went to prison — some up to 20 years ago — who have turned their lives around, have no subsequent convictions, and are living productive and upstanding lives in their communities.

All too often the police record has stood as an immovable obstacle to their further progress at a time when more and more employers are demanding criminal records, not to mention the inability to secure visas for overseas travel or work.

The ministry has started with expungement for the easy offences, mainly non-custodial sentences or short-term prison stays. We understand that expungement for some categories of offences now not considered will be controversial, such as import and export of narcotics, murder, rape, and some offences under the Malicious Destruction of Property Act, like arson.

However, Mr Chuck and his ministry should not be afraid to engage the nation on which of these categories could be applicable for purposes of expungement.