New scheme ‘just and humane’

after 1980.

The programme also has what Justice Minister Adams called ‘‘constitutional implications’’, requiring an entirely new framework to administer it. New Zealand has never before had a process by which convictions can be expunged because the activity that gave rise to them has been decriminalised. Nor is there a general rule in law that criminal records should be changed when legislation changes. The scheme announced this week therefore breaks new ground.

The scheme will be the subject of legislation to be introduced to Parliament before the election and for which there is expected to be crossparty support. It is based on similar schemes in some Australian states and England and Wales.

The New Zealand scheme stops short of a blanket pardon like that recently announced in the United Kingdom. It has been called the ‘‘Alan Turing law’’, in honour of the World War II era mathematician who helped crack the Nazi Enigma code. Turing was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 and was chemically castrated. He died in 1954, possibly by his own hand. The UK pardon has its critics, who say it does not go far enough, implying forgiveness, but not addressing past injustice.

Under the New Zealand scheme, people wanting to have their criminal records expunged will need to apply to the Secretary of Justice on a case-bycase basis. This is because the old law did not differentiate between acts that would now be legal and acts that would still be illegal, sometimes involving minors. Those who meet the criteria will, however, have the convictions removed from their records.

The new legislation will also allow family members to apply on behalf of men who have now died. One possible case would be that of the writer Frank Sargeson, who changed his name from Norris Davey in part to conceal an indecency conviction in 1929.

Sargeson’s biographer Michael King believed that he had been scarred for life by his experiences before the courts. Adams, in announcing the scheme this week, apologised on behalf of the Crown to all those who had lived their lives ‘‘tainted with the stigma of criminality’’. The solution proposed by the law change is just and humane.