Court Orders without penalty for the least serious cases

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“Absolute and Conditional Discharges are orders reserved for the least serious cases, where the court chooses not to impose punishment. ”

On this page:

What are Absolute and Conditional Discharges?
Absolute Discharge
When does an Absolute Discharge become spent?
Conditional Discharge
When does a Conditional Discharge become spent?
Orders which can be combined with an Absolute or Conditional Discharge
Orders and sentences which cannot be combined with an Absolute or Conditional Discharge
Breach of a Conditional Discharge

What are Absolute and Conditional Discharges?

Absolute and Conditional Discharges are orders reserved for the least serious cases, where the court chooses not to impose punishment. Where a Conditional Discharge is imposed, no punishment will occur provided the defendant commits no further offences during the period of the discharge. If a further offence is committed during this period, the defendant will be re-sentenced for the original offence, as well as being sentenced for the new offence.

Absolute Discharge

Under s.79 Sentencing Act 2020 an Order for Absolute Discharge may be made where a defendant has been convicted of an offence (which is not one subject to mandatory minimum sentence requirements) and the court ‘is of the opinion that it is inexpedient to inflict punishment, having regard to the circumstances, including (a) the nature of the offence, and (b) the character of the offender.’

As the name suggests, with an Absolute Discharge there is no sentence imposed and there are no conditions attached.

Absolute discharges are therefore reserved for offences which are very trivial, or because there are strong extenuating factors relating to the defendant or otherwise which justify such a course.

When does an Absolue Discharge become spent?

Even though an Absolute Discharge can only be made after a defendant is convicted (i.e. pleaded guilty or been found guilty following a trial), the conviction bercomes ‘spent’ immediately, under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Spent convictions are not contained on your basic criminal record and are not revealed on a Basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, but can be revealed on a Standard or Enhanced DBS check. You can read more about DBS checks here.