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Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004

Preliminary provisions

3: Overview

You could also call this:

"A law that helps hide old convictions if you meet certain rules"

Illustration for Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004

This Act creates a clean slate scheme. It helps limit the effect of your convictions. You must meet certain criteria to be eligible. If you are eligible, you are treated as having no criminal record when asked about it. If you meet the criteria, you have rights. You can say you have no criminal record when asked. Government departments and law enforcement agencies must conceal your criminal record. There is a diagram that explains how to be eligible for the clean slate scheme. It is in section 19 that you can find exceptions to this scheme.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM280846.

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Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Victim supportRights and equality > Anti-discrimination
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2: Commencement, or

"When the law starts"

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4: Interpretation, or

"What words mean in the Criminal Records Act"

Part 1Preliminary provisions

3Overview

  1. This Act establishes a clean slate scheme to limit the effect of an individual's convictions in most circumstances (subject to certain exceptions set out in section 19) if the individual satisfies the relevant eligibility criteria.

  2. If an individual satisfies the relevant eligibility criteria,—

  3. he or she is deemed to have no criminal record for the purposes of any question asked of him or her about his or her criminal record; and
    1. he or she has the right to have his or her criminal record concealed by government departments and law enforcement agencies that hold or have access to his or her criminal record.

      1. A general overview of eligibility under the clean slate scheme is set out in diagrammatic form as follows:

        General overview of eligibility under the clean slate scheme