EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order brings into force specified provisions of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 (“the 2017 Act”).
Section 168 of the 2017 Act inserts sections 101A to 101J as Chapter 5 of Part 5 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. These sections make provision for a person who has a conviction or caution for a specific offence (in particular in relation to historical offences of buggery and gross indecency between men) to apply to the Department of Justice to have that conviction or caution disregarded and set out the circumstances in which such an application will be successful.
Section 169 of the 2017 Act makes provision for an automatic posthumous pardon for a person who has a conviction or caution for an offence as specified in section 169(2) and who has died before this section came into force.
Section 170 of the 2017 Act provides that where a person, who is living at the time this section comes into force, has a conviction or caution that becomes disregarded under Chapter 5 of Part 5 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, the person is also pardoned for the offence at that time.
Section 172 of the 2017 Act makes supplementary provisions in relation to pardons, regulations made under section 171 and the prerogative of mercy.