Sensible Sentencing Trust Tauranga spokesman Ken Evans said it was "absolutely scary" to know what people could conceal from the community.
"The first thing with Sensible Sentencing is the safety of the public. The primary requirement for the public to be safe is knowledge," Mr Evans said.
"It's absolutely scary to think the person you're going to have a relationship with, or who's going to be the caretaker at the school or who is going to marry your daughter, it's scary what these people are able to conceal from the community."
Mr Evans was shocked to hear one Tauranga person had concealed 74 convictions from their criminal record.
"How on earth can a person like that get a clean slate?
"The range of crimes that can be concealed to neighbours, new partners, potential employers sounds over-generous."
The Clean Slate Act is designed to allow individuals with less serious convictions to put their past behind them - as long as they have been conviction-free for seven years and were never sentenced to jail.
The Act can conceal convictions when an application is made to the Ministry of Justice for someone's criminal record, such as during a job application process.
If a person reoffends later and another application for their record is made, it would not only show the person's most recent conviction but also those convictions that had been previously concealed.
1st Call Recruitment managing director Phill van Syp questioned what would happen to those people "if we never let them back into society?".
Every applicant with 1st Call Recruitment would have their criminal record checked and that information passed on, he said.
However, the application could take six weeks and in that time the applicant could prove themselves as a hardworking and loyal employee.
"Even people who do have a criminal history, clients do keep them on," Mr van Syp said. "In the end it's hard to find a good worker. You've got to make an informed decision."
Mr van Syp praised the system for giving people a second chance.
"Giving them a chance to work back into society and become proactive is good for everyone."
Jill Cachemaille, director of the Staffroom, said every registered candidate had to declare their criminal record on their application form, even if the Clean Slate Act applied.
She said she would prefer people to declare everything so an informed decision could be made.
"It really depends on what it is, too, and how it would affect the job. If it was a drink-driving conviction seven years ago I probably wouldn't worry about it but, then again, if they're going to be in a sales position and doing a lot of driving I might think about it," she said.
"But I think sometimes people are caught once, they learn their lesson and they move on."
Clean slate
To be eligible for a "clean slate" a person must have:
* No convictions within the last seven years
* Never been sentenced to a custodial sentence (eg. imprisonment, corrective training, borstal)
* Never been ordered by a court during a criminal case to be detained in a hospital due to his/her mental condition instead of being sentenced
* Not been convicted of "specified offence" (eg. sexual offending against children and young people or the mentally impaired)
* Paid in full any fine, reparation or costs ordered by the court in a criminal case
* Never been indefinitely disqualified from driving
Source: Ministry of Justice
