Criminal records
Whether you get a criminal record or not depends on whether the Court chooses to record a conviction against you. The Court may give you a penalty without recording a conviction. In determining whether a conviction is appropriate, the Court will consider a number of factors including:
- the seriousness of the offence;
- your age and maturity; and
- your health.
The treatment of criminal records also varies across the states and territories.
For example, in NSW and VIC, the Children’s Court is prohibited from recording a criminal conviction against you if you are aged 16 or younger. If you are older than 18 years old and you are appearing in adult court, the court will almost always record a conviction unless the magistrate or judge thinks there are special reasons not to. Similarly in QLD if you are older than 17 and you are appearing in adult court, the court will almost always record a conviction unless the magistrate or judge thinks there are special reasons not to.
In South Australia, court records are kept of your appearance before the Youth Court. It contains information about all your previous court appearances, the number of times you have attended a formal police caution or family conference. These convictions remain on your record when you turn 18 and can be taken into consideration at the time of sentencing for later offences.
Thanks to the team at Lawstuff for developing this fact sheet.
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