New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CRIMINAL RECORDS ACT 1991 - SECT 8

8 When is a conviction spent?

(1) A conviction is spent on completion of the relevant crime-free period, except as provided by this section.

(2) A finding that an offence has been proved, or that a person is guilty of an offence, without proceeding to a conviction is spent immediately after the finding is made.

(3) An order of the Children’s Court dismissing a charge and administering a caution is spent immediately after the caution is administered.

(4) A finding that an offence has been proved, or that a person is guilty of an offence, and:

(a) the discharging of, or the making of an order releasing, the offender conditionally on entering into a good behaviour bond for a specified period, on participating in an intervention program or on other conditions determined by the court, or

(b) the releasing of the offender on probation on such conditions as the court may determine, for such period of time as it thinks fit,

is spent on satisfactory completion of the period or satisfactory compliance with the program (including any intervention plan arising out of the program) or conditions, as the case may require.

(5) A conviction in respect of an offence of a kind which has ceased, by operation of law, to be an offence is spent immediately the offence ceased to be an offence, if the offence is prescribed by the regulations to be an offence to which this subsection applies.

(6) A conviction which is spent is not revived by a subsequent conviction.

(7) A reference in subsection (4) (a) (as substituted by the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Criminal Justice Interventions) Act 2002 ) to a good behaviour bond includes a reference to a recognizance to be of good behaviour made before the commencement of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 .