Criminal records can now be wiped clean

| 10/11/2017 | 58 Comments

(CNS): Caymanians who have minor drug convictions or who have had a crime free period of 15 years following a conviction for a non-serious offence can now wipe their criminal records clean. Officials have announced that the Criminal Records (Spent Convictions) Law, 2016, which replaced the Rehabilitation of Offenders Law (1998 revision) is in effect and a new board created to expunge records is ready to accept applications. The board will consider all minor drug convictions that did not involving tricking or supply and a fine of less than $5,000, clearing the names of people with old drug convictions that in some cases have had a serious and detrimental impact on their lives for decades.

The criminal records office can now automatically clean records where a sentence of less than five years, a caution, fine, community order or probation was handed down, provided the crime was not a serious offence. People who have served a sentence exceeding five years but have had a crime free period of 15 years and who did not commit an excluded offence can also have their record cleaned at the discretion of the board.

The law applies to a conviction for an offence against Cayman Island laws and laws of other countries. But records will not be expunged for serious offences such as treason, terrorism, murder, manslaughter, rape and other sexual offences, kidnapping, people trafficking, crimes against children and vulnerable people or firearms convictions.

Where the law provides for a record to be expunged and wiped clean, it means that person will be treated, for all purposes in law, as someone who has not committed the offence or been charged, prosecuted convicted or sentenced for it. But there are exceptions for certain job applications, where that person will still have to reveal the expunged crime.

Lawyers, chartered accountants, teachers and anyone working with children, medical practitioners including dentists, midwives, opticians and pharmacists, as well as any professionals that need to be licensed under a law to practice must still indicate their offences. Specific offices also require people to disclose expunged records as well such as those in the judicial and other public service especially in law enforcement as well as members of statutory and government company boards.

Applicants who wish to have their record expunged should mail or hand deliver the following to the Office of the Deputy Governor, Government Administration Building, Box 103, Elgin Avenue, George Town, Grand Cayman, KY1 – 9000 or put in drop box labelled “Expungement Applications”.

Applications should include a letter requesting expungement, the completed application form, a fee of CI$25, an original Police Clearance Certificate less than a month old and two character references from non-family members.

Application forms  are available from the Reception Desk on the Ground Floor of the Government Administration Building, Elgin Avenue, George Town or online here.

The new Expungement Board members are Kashka Hemans, Hugh Lockwood, Kayleigh Wright, Shimar Harding and Pastor Alson Ebanks.

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Category: Crime

Comments (58)

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  1. Shionn Christian says:

    I have a aggravated burglary(robbing illegal gambling) mistake over my head from 2004. Its been really hard to get a job etc and easy to stay out of trouble for so long (minor convictions like for weed etc who got it easy cant walk in my shoes who re offends religiously) and still to this day stay away from trouble. I need get off this place call home cayman now.. i have alot more chances and my own family in canada. I dont even want to go england for there is nothing over there for me except few cousins and a aunt. I was sentenced 7 years..spent 3.5 years approved for parole (did not violate etc) i made a mistake and not ever going back jus hope when it time to submit my app i dont get the run around foolishness!

    • Anonymous says:

      7 years sounds serious to me. You cannot wipe the slate clean in the UK if you have ever been sentenced to more than 4 years in prison. New Zealand will not take migrants who have ever been sentenced to more than 5 years in prison. Canada used to be your best bet, but they have a new law. They don’t take migrants with felony convictions.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Government could easily sell Ganja as product, tag it and bag it and turn that green into more green. then we wont have to waste our money to put them in northward.

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    • Diogenes says:

      While yes the government could profit off of the sale of cannabis and cannabis products it should be indirectly but with their permission

      otherwise known as legalizing, taxing and regulating

      Be honest we need to keep the CIG as far away from weed as possible once it is legalized cause they will find some way to mess it up, plus they are incompetent enough as it is we don’t want them getting high on their own supply

      Between Alden, Mac and some of the other characters in our little puppet show we would be liable to find they smoked it all to deal with the stress

      Diogenes

  3. Anonymous says:

    Restorative Justice only works if we under-report the guarenteed spike in crime so that the idiot leaders who install the new protocols can keep their cosy job positions.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Now if we could get the bankers to wipe clean the default history at 7 years that would ve an excellent finish

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  5. Narcisso Clarke says:

    The corruption of Cayman Islands government continues and spreads now when the end now just the means? When those in society who commit heinous crimes against society are now granted legitmacy by the law!!!! Jailing people for smoking Ganja is a waste of time and money!

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  6. Turnbull kidco says:

    436pm it helps when your boyfriend who has over 20 odd convictions for various crimes needs his conviction wiped so he can get travel documents . Excluding violent offences like GBH and Robbery and aggravated burglary is disgraceful dealing drugs destroying people lives and families appear to mean nothing these days! Convictions stand as deterrents to others not to commit crime against society and to abide by just laws. smoking a spiff cannot be compared with violent acts against the law and society.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Say ‘NO’ to drugs period. Think of the long term effects before you engage it stupid behavior. There is no excuse.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Only 2% of crimes in Cayman ever result in a conviction. There is not even an arrest in relation to 95% of crimes.

    The average sentence for a person convicted in Cayman is less than 1 year which means that 99% of convictions will produce an automatically expunged record so that career criminals will always be able to claim to be of previously good character. Better yet, with the automatic expunging of criminal records, people who now cannot run for a seat in the LA will now be able to. Who says that crime does not pay.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    I trick my boss into believing I am an angel each week by making up stories about my colleagues and setting them up for failure, but I get forgiven each Sunday by my pastor, so why shouldn’t other criminals get the same chance. Scoiopaths are people too and need 2nd,3rd,4th chances to save themselves.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Will those with convictions for crimes of dishonesty, theft and fraud now be able to stand for election?

  11. Anonymous says:

    Wasn’t it 7 years, except for serious criminal convictions? How does changing it to 15 years help???!

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    • West bay Premier says:

      What great piece of Law . The Watson and the Blake and all other white collar criminals would get their criminal records wiped clean . But all other criminals would have to live with it .
      I wonder if the Government can explain, why one criminal is better than the other and have this privileged ?

    • Shionn Christian says:

      If you was at the same table you would be singing a diffrent bird song!

  12. Anonymous says:

    I had refusing a urine specimen for 7 years! Nothing else

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    • #nosympathy says:

      How many years would have gotten had you followed the law and peed in the cup as instructed?

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  13. Anonymous says:

    Great news for Canover Watson, Jeff Webb, and many other political hopefuls!

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    • Diogenes says:

      You honestly think anyone is going to vote for Jeff Webb or Canover Watson?

      Diogenes

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    • Anon. says:

      What? Were they involved and got convicted for drugs too?

      Re-read the article, I think you missed the part which says it relates to drug-related convictions!!!

      The objective of this is for those people who were wayward teenagers or young adults, got caught and convicted for marijuana, cocaine etc for personal consumption and they have straightened out their life and gone onto to become productive citizens but years later their record negatively impacts their life, like getting a US visa.

      Not for white collar criminals like Watson and Webb.

      • Anonymous says:

        That is how the politicians sold it. That is not what it does.

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      • Anonymous says:

        The article says minor drug conviction OR non-serious offences, which presumably includes crimes of dishonesty/theft etc…

    • Anonymous says:

      LOL!

  14. Anonymous says:

    Awesome news! A clean slate, a fresh start and a second chance at life.

    This is truly great! Make the very best of it ladies and gents.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Exactly! Great news! Can no longer use the ol’ ” I was caught smoking ganja 5 years ago, so I can’t get a job” excuse!

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      • Anonymous says:

        You mean, “I am Caymanian (and heaven forbid if I’m black) and I’m emotionally bullied out of every job where there are white foreigners and made to feel like a second-class citizen in my own country. So I smoke a little pot to calm myself so I don’t put a fist through a face, but even that results in legal charges. Then I have my own Caymanian Premier, who forgot or doesn’t know where he came from and thinks he’s a white foreigner now, blaring at me through headlines (and forget it if I’m a black man) that Caymanians need to be “less prejudice” and “reject insular thinking.” You mean that kind of excuse?

        Yes, it’s easy to see your point.

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        • Anonymous says:

          “Excuse” being the key word here… Carry on smoking weed to curb your violent ways though. Sorry, but your “excuse” is just that.

        • Anonymous says:

          Oh yawn… now it’s the colour card pulled. You will always find excuses and others to blame. Absolutely pathetic.

      • Big Data says:

        Yeh, and if anyone asks during a job interview you can potentially sue their a$$ for deformation.

    • Anonymous says:

      I’d rather know my potential employees were criminals or not. Then I can be the judge of whether to take a risk on them.

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      • Anonymous says:

        statistics suggest that by the time a DWI is convicted, they have driven Drunk at least 55 times previously. Point being hardly any one is caught and convicted the first time they commit a crime.

  15. Anonymous says:

    If the provisions are accurately reported then I have a problem with this. I agree that young people caught with a spliff should not have a life long criminal record. However what this article says is that career robbers, burglars and their fences who commit 100s of crimes a year but are rarely prosecuted are going to have any conviction records automatically expunged? This type of policy might work in a jurisdiction where burglars, home invaders, fences, are frequently prosecuted, but here in Cayman repeat property crime offenders and even armed robbers are almost never prosecuted and where even if prosecuted the usual sentence is 2 years or less, this new law will be a disaster.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I also agree that we should not sending people to jail over a solid and ruining their careers. But in this escalating crime this is the time to signal the lessening of consequences on crime??

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      • Big Data says:

        You still do the time if you’re caught so it is expected that you are rehabilitated by the time your sentence is done.

  16. Anonymous says:

    A step forward, but for minor misdemeanors needs to be 5 years.

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  17. SSM345 says:

    So they changed the law that previously wiped your record clean after 7yrs (since last offence committed) to 15yrs? Pray tell how to helps anyone with a non-serious offence on their record by now making them wait an extra 8yrs to have it removed?

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  18. Anonymous says:

    15 years?? If a young person has an office as described at say age 17, he/she will be 32 years old before they can get rid of this albatross. This could ruin their lives. One bad decision. Come on guys, do you live under a rock?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Don’t commit the crime in the first place and there is no issue?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Ahh, the obvious asshole response; just don’t do anything bad! LOL

        Guess what, kids make mistakes all the time….you should know this. You are not perfect.

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        • Anonymous says:

          They need to face the consequences of their choices. Full stop. How come so many other kids avoid this same predicament. Teaching kids anything short of serious consequences (i.e. criminal record and the like) is a disservice to law abiding society.

        • Anonymous says:

          Dropping their phone – a mistake. Committing a crime – sign of a weak character and poor morals.

    • Anon says:

      10/11/2017 10.47 am. Only if they were sentenced to 5 years plus. Other minor offences will be expunged automatically.

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Do foreign nationals coming here still have to disclose their convictions if applying for a work permit or for residence, or are they now excused too? The immigration law seems to require full disclosure. Is that no longer the case?

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    • Anonymous says:

      You can practically get a clean bill of health by moving to an intermediary jurisdiction for a period of time and supplying a clean record from there when you apply. Super.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Free for all. Expat criminals now officially welcome!

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  20. Diogenes says:

    So the government acknowledges that minor drugs convictions like possession or consumption of Marijuana shouldn’t ruin the ability of someone to find a job but still we haven’t decriminalized possession and consumption. Anything to charge a $25 dollar fee I guess

    While we allow people to drink themselves into a coma and smoke themselves into an early grave and the health care system bears the burden

    Diogenes

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