Spent Convictions (ALRC 37)
As a result of the Australian Law Reform Commission's inquiry into sentencing of Commonwealth and Australian Capital Territory offenders (Sentencing of federal offenders (Interim)(ALRC 15)), the Commission suggested to the Attorney-General that a separate inquiry be held on the question of whether criminal records should be deleted after specified periods of time.
The inquiry was conducted under the terms of reference of the earlier Sentencing inquiry, initially received in August 1978.
A Discussion Paper, Criminal Records (DP 25), was produced in 1985 and the final report Spent Convictions (ALRC 37) was tabled in federal Parliament in June 1987.
Related reports on Sentencing are Sentencing of Federal Offenders (Interim report) ALRC 15; The Commonwealth Prisoners Act (Interim report) (ALRC 43); and Sentencing (ALRC 44).
There has been substantial implementation of the recommendations made in ALRC 37.