SINGAPORE — Men who were convicted under the now-repealed Section 377A of the Penal Code can check if their criminal records have been rendered spent and, if not, apply for their records to be treated as such.

When considering such applications, the Commissioner of Police will take into account the facts of the case, including whether it was a private activity and between consenting adults, said Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam on Tuesday (Jan 9) in a written parliamentary response.

MP Louis Ng (PAP-Nee Soon) had filed a parliamentary question for Tuesday’s sitting, seeking an update on the government’s consideration of how criminal records involving Section 377A would be rendered spent.

A spent conviction means that the individual will no longer have a criminal record for the spent offence. A person can lawfully answer “no” if asked whether they have a criminal record.

The colonial-era Section 377A, which criminalised sex between men, was repealed in November 2022.

Shortly after, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that 17 people who were convicted between 1988 and 2007 over consensual, private, homosexual acts between adults are still alive, according to the ministry’s records. 

In 2007, the Government said it would retain Section 377A but not proactively enforce it.

On Tuesday, Mr Shanmugam noted that a person’s conviction is automatically rendered spent after five years of being crime-free, but not if the person is disqualified under certain conditions in the Registration of Criminals Act.

These conditions include the sentence imposed exceeding three months’ jail or a S$2,000 fine.

Offences under Section 377A, which carried a punishment of up to two years in jail, are registrable offences.

This means that a person who was convicted of such an offence will have a criminal record unless it is rendered spent, Mr Shanmugam said.

If someone’s conviction record cannot be automatically rendered spent, they can apply to the Commissioner of Police — who serves as head of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) — to have their records treated as spent. This includes those convicted under Section 377A.

Those who wish to make an application can email SPF_Spent_Application [at] spf.gov.sg (SPF_Spent_Application[at]spf[dot]gov[dot]sg) with their personal particulars, contact information and reasons for consideration to treat their conviction record as spent.

Those previously convicted under Section 377A can check whether their records have been rendered spent on the SPF website. CNA