Justice Minister Delroy Chuck on Tuesday made a case for Jamaicans wishing to have their criminal records expunged, saying that of the more than 7,000 citizens whose records have been wiped since 2016, he has no information of any of them committing further offences.

Making his contribution to the 2025/2026 Sectoral Debate at Gordon House in downtown Kingston, the justice minister said for the fiscal year 2024/2025, almost 1,800 applications were approved out of approximately 2,500 applications.

He said since 2016 more than 7,000 expungement applications have been approved, out of a total of almost 11,000 for the justice service “which is almost always in high demand”.

“As we move towards a safer Jamaica, we need to give people a second chance — many of them are out there [who] can’t get work, can’t travel, and we need to look at that… It is no secret that countless jobseekers, isolated family members, critically ill persons in need of overseas treatment, some self-employed persons, some aspiring entrepreneurs, just to name a few examples, would like to have their records expunged in order to maximise their full potential,” Chuck told parliamentarians.

“A Bill is before Parliament, and we parliamentarians must have a look at it, assess it and see how we can make certain decisions for the benefit of those persons who have served their time, lived in the community without any problems and so expect and hope that their convictions can be expunged,” he stated.

In the meantime, Chuck emphasised that not all applicants are successful.

“The expungement committee examines the records, sometimes asks for a social enquiry report and many of them are refused, but those who apply and comply and have not committed any offence, the expungement committee, in a fair number of cases, grants them to start a new life, and believe me, to the best of my knowledge, we have not had any case of persons expunged committing further offences,” Chuck told the House.

He also said backlogged applications were attributable to the Expungement Board not receiving reports from the Criminal Records Office (CRO) on time. However, that problem has since been remedied.

“We have now decided to pay two persons to work in the CRO and we pay them so persons no longer have to wait too long for their applications to be considered and so, over the past six months or so, we have completed over 2,000 backlogged applications,” he told the House.

In 2023, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang told the Jamaica Observer that another category of offences for expungement would be considered.

Expungement is having a conviction removed from one’s criminal or police record after a specific period of time has elapsed and after certain requirements have been met. The statute which authorises the expungement of criminal records is the Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act, 1988. The principle underlying this provision is that a person who has made a sincere and successful attempt to be law-abiding should be given the opportunity to start afresh without being haunted by an unfortunate past.

There are specific offences that the Criminal Records Rehabilitation of Offenders Act clearly specifies cannot be expunged at this time, including murder and offences in relation to rape, distribution of child pornography, carnal abuse with a person under 16, and sex with a person under 16. There are also issues in relation to firearm possession and ammunition that are not eligible for expungement at this time. Offences such as the import and export of narcotics, for example cocaine and marijuana, and some offences under the Malicious Destruction of Property Act such as arson cannot be expunged under the current law.

In order to qualify for expungement, two essential conditions must be satisfied — the offence in question must be one which attracts a non-custodial sentence or sentence of imprisonment not exceeding five years, and the person in question must not have had any other convictions during a specified period of time — referred to as the rehabilitation period.

The rehabilitation period defines the length of time that a person must wait before an application can be made for the expungement of a conviction. This period varies according to the sentence imposed by the court and ranges from a minimum of three years for non-custodial sentences to a maximum of 10 years for custodial sentences. The rehabilitation period is calculated from the date of the expiration of the term of imprisonment in the case of custodial sentences, and in other cases upon the satisfaction of the court’s sentence.

An offender cannot apply for an expungement until the relevant rehabilitation period has expired. The sentence imposed by the court will determine the rehabilitation period that must elapse.