By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Rehabilitation of Offenders Committee has received 112 applications from people seeking to have their records wiped clean between January and June of this year, with 54 of those applicants said to have already had their records expunged.
Another 15 applicants have been referred to the Prerogative of Mercy, while 13 applied a little too early.
Paul Farquharson, the committee’s chairman, gave an update on the body’s work in an interview with The Tribune yesterday and also provided the statistics for the first half of the year.
He said the committee has expanded and is made up of new members, some of whom are from the Family Islands.
“We do a report for the ministry every six months,” Mr Farquharson said. “The grand total of applications that we received was 112. Fifty-four of those were recommended for expungement.
“Fourteen of them were referred to the Prerogative of Mercy. Thirteen applied a little too early and there are 15 that are waiting for the final decision of the government to deal with curfew violations.”
Mr Farquharson said some of the cases that have been reviewed by the group include people who have been convicted of offences ranging from assault, disorderly behaviour and minor drug related matters.
He also revealed that the committee continues to receive applications and inquiries from people who received convictions for Emergency Order violations, especially as it relates to the curfew.
In July, the government amended the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act to allow people convicted of certain Emergency Order violations to make an immediate application to have their records expunged.
Pointing to the new amendment, the chairman said it is his belief that the government intends to grant a blanket expungement of people who were charged with curfew breaches during the height of the pandemic.
“Well, we have inquiries everyday about those,” he said. “As you would be aware, the honourable Minister Wayne Munroe tabled in the House of Parliament, I think sometime in July, an amendment through the Act which would give him, because he’s the expungement minister, the power to have those records in addition to the others - the breach of restrictions during the emergency powers (expunged).
“In this amendment, I think what is intended, I believe, is to grant a blanket expungement for all of those persons who would have been convicted under the Emergency Orders. That was the intention of the amendment when I listened to the debate in the House of Parliament. That was the intention and I think we are very near that. I think the minister, I’m sure, will make an announcement in the not too distant future on that particular matter.”
When contacted about the matter yesterday, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe suggested that it is not the government’s intention to do so, noting that the law requires for an application to be made in order for someone to have their record expunged.
“I have asked the Rehabilitation of Offenders Committee to consider a simplified process for this class of convictions,” the minister also said.
As it relates to outstanding applications, Mr Farquharson said there are eight in Bimini, 17 in Grand Bahama and 84 pending applications.
He added: “They are going through the process of gathering reports, but what I do want to say, this committee’s work could not be as effective without the support of other persons and I want to congratulate the rehabilitative service of social services who supply reports on each applicant.
“And it’s a whole lot of work that has to go into this so I want to single them out and thank them for their partnership in this process and, of course, we get reports from the least criminal record and where persons are incarcerated from the department, we get a report from the Department of Corrections and so I want to single them out and thank them for their support for the work of the committee.”
Under the amended Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, people who have committed murder, manslaughter, treason, armed robbery, rape, etc, cannot have their records expunged.
After five years, however, most others are eligible if they are first-time offenders or were younger than 21 at the time of their first conviction.