The government intends to review the Criminal Procedure Act with a view to expunging the criminal records of petty offenders to give them "a second chance". Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha told parliament during his budget vote yesterday that interactions with former offenders who had remained on the right side of the law had revealed that their criminal records had a "detrimental effect on successful social integration".Masutha said the act was last reviewed six years ago and "perhaps it is time to open the dialogue on criminal records".But Masutha said the move should "not compromise public safety" and a national consultative conference on the subject would be convened this year."Our focus will remain on those who committed minor and non-violent crimes," he said.Earlier, he told a media briefing that offenders could apply to have their records expunged 10 years after the offence was committed.He said this period might be reduced."Ten years can be a lifetime, especially to a young person," Masutha said.The DA's James Selfe said: "We believe that a criminal record is a powerful inhibitor to being integrated back into society."He said greater use should be made of electronic monitoring of offenders.Masutha said that since the monitoring system's launch 1009 offenders had been fitted with the electronic monitoring bracelets and just over 600 were still wearing them.The department's acting national commissioner, Zak Modise, said the department planned to use the electronic bracelets to monitor more than 100000 offenders serving short sentences for minor crimes.Selfe called for cellphone signals to be blocked in prisons."If they can do it for parliament they can do it for Pollsmoor," he said, referring to the signal jamming at the State of the Nation sitting...