In Queensland, a “conviction” and a “recorded conviction” are not the same thing. Under s 12 of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld), a sentencing court can find you guilty of an offence without recording that conviction at all. If no conviction is recorded, it’s generally taken never to have happened for most purposes, including most police checks. If a conviction is recorded, it stays on your criminal history and only stops being disclosable once a separate law, the Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 (Qld), says it’s “spent”. The two questions, whether a conviction is recorded, and whether a recorded conviction later becomes spent, are answered by different Acts.
Will a court record my conviction?
Under s 12(2) of the Penalties and Sentences Act, when deciding whether to record a conviction the court must have regard to all the circumstances of the case, including:
- the nature of the offence
- your character and age
- the impact that recording a conviction will have on your economic or social wellbeing
- the impact that recording a conviction will have on your chances of finding employment
No single factor automatically outweighs the others; it’s a discretionary balancing exercise on your specific facts, which is exactly the kind of submission a lawyer prepares evidence for (references, employment impact, prior good character).
What happens if no conviction is recorded?
If the court doesn’t record a conviction, s 12(3) provides that the conviction is taken not to be a conviction for any purpose, and it must not be entered in any record except the court’s own record and your criminal history held by police. In practice, this means it generally won’t appear on a standard National Police Certificate, and you can usually truthfully say you don’t have a conviction for that offence. It isn’t automatic secrecy, though: certain assessments (for example, a later court deciding what sentence to impose for a new offence) can still look at it, and specific occupations that require full disclosure (police, teachers, some legal roles) are carved out separately.
One exception: domestic violence offences
Section 12A of the Penalties and Sentences Act creates a specific carve-out for domestic violence offences. Even if the court doesn’t record a conviction, the offence must still be entered in your criminal history as a “relevant domestic violence offence” (unless the court isn’t satisfied it qualifies as one). This means “no conviction recorded” doesn’t erase a domestic violence finding from your history the way it does for most other offences: it’s designed to let a later court sentencing you for another domestic violence matter see the full pattern.
How long before a recorded conviction becomes “spent”?
If a conviction is recorded, the Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 (Qld) sets a “rehabilitation period” after which you generally don’t have to disclose it and it’s treated as spent:
- 10 years for a conviction entered in the Supreme Court or District Court as an adult
- 5 years for any other conviction (including as a juvenile)
This only applies where no term of imprisonment was imposed, or the term imposed was no more than 30 months. Once the rehabilitation period passes without a further relevant conviction, you can generally lawfully deny the earlier conviction, and others generally can’t disclose it either, subject to statutory exceptions (for example, roles like police officers, teachers and lawyers, where full disclosure is still required, and court or law-enforcement uses).
Does this affect diversion?
Diversion programs (see our explainer on Court Diversion and DAAR) are usually aimed at the same outcome: a good behaviour bond under s 19 of the Penalties and Sentences Act, without a conviction being recorded at all. If you’re pleading guilty to a minor drug matter, our guide to Queensland’s drug possession laws covers how that charge is typically dealt with.
Does this apply the same way to CEM and other serious charges?
The s 12 discretion applies across offence types, but courts weigh it differently for more serious matters, and some sentencing outcomes for CEM and similar offences raise their own “exceptional circumstances” questions beyond just s 12. See our detailed explainer on exceptional circumstances and recorded convictions in CEM cases if that’s your situation.
If you’ve been charged and want advice on whether a conviction is likely to be recorded, or what a recorded conviction from years ago means for you now, get in touch for confidential advice, or read more about how we defend property offences and drug charges.
This article is general legal information, not advice about your situation.
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