Western Australian Consolidated Acts

YOUNG OFFENDERS ACT 1994 - SECT 55

55 .         Conviction, when to be recorded

        (1)         If the court — 

            (a)         finds a young person guilty of a Schedule 1 offence or a Schedule 2 offence; or

            (b)         finds a young person guilty of any offence and imposes a custodial sentence,

                the court is required to record a conviction unless it is prevented from doing so by subsection (5) or it is satisfied that there are exceptional reasons for not doing so.

        (2)         If the court finds a young person guilty of an offence other than a Schedule 1 offence or a Schedule 2 offence and does not impose a custodial sentence, the court is not to record a conviction unless it is satisfied that there are exceptional reasons for doing so.

        (3)         Whenever, for exceptional reasons, the court departs from the requirements of subsection (1) or (2), it is to record its reasons for doing so.

        (4)         Although a conviction is not recorded, the offender is deemed to have been convicted for the purpose of the making, under this Act or any other written law, of any order that may be, or is required to be, made upon convicting a person of such an offence or for the purpose of the operation of any provision of the Road Traffic Act 1974 relating to the cancellation of, or disqualification from holding or obtaining, a driver’s licence under that Act or for the purpose of an appeal under the Criminal Appeals Act 2004 (but not for any other purpose).

        (5)         If a young person is found guilty of an offence and, under section 66 or 67, the court refrains from imposing any punishment, the court is not to record a conviction.

        (6)         The powers in this section may be exercised despite section 147(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2004 .

        [Section 55 amended by No. 84 of 2004 s. 74.]