New Zealand will finally catch up to many other Western countries and quash historic and out of date gay sex convictions following an announcement by Justice Minister Amy Adams today.
There will be a new scheme introduced that allow people with convictions for specific offences relating to consensual sexual activity between men 16 years and over to apply to have their convictions expunged.
Speaking at the announcement Minister Adams said the New Zealand Government intends to introduce legislation to implement the scheme in the coming months and is planned to be underway in 2018.
“While the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 decriminalised consensual sex between men aged 16 and over, convictions for those offences remain on record and can appear in criminal history checks,” Ms Adams said.
“Although we can never fully undo the impact on the lives of those affected, this new scheme will provide a pathway for their convictions to be expunged.
“It means people will be treated as if they had never been convicted, and removes the ongoing stigma and prejudice that can arise from convictions for homosexual offences.
“I acknowledge the pain that these New Zealanders have lived with and hope that this will go some way toward addressing that.”
It is a significant victory for campaigners, the move will allow nearly 200 people convicted before homosexual law reform in 1986 to have their convictions erased.
The decision follows a petition by gay rights campaigner Wiremu Demchick, who requested a law change which set out a process for reversing convictions for consensual homosexual acts.
The Ministry of Justice estimates around 879 people were convicted of homosexual acts before legalisation in 1986.
Around 80 per cent are believed to have convictions which would still be offences under today’s law, including under-age sex offences.
The policy change comes after Britain recently agreed to pardon thousands of gay and bisexual men convicted under obsolete legislation and states in Australia have been progressively been removing the convictions in recent years.
The application process will be free for applicants. Decisions will be made by the Secretary of Justice, without the need for formal court hearings or for applicants to appear in person.
“As there may be instances where the offending involved conduct that is still unlawful today, we can’t apply a broad brush approach to wiping convictions. The scheme will involve a case-by-case approach,” Ms Adams said.
For more details on the proposed scheme Click Here
Last Updated on Feb 9, 2017
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