People commonly ask whether they can apply to have a conviction removed from their criminal record. Unfortunately, this is generally not the case. In accordance with the Criminal Records Act 1991, ‘spent’ convictions will no longer appear on your criminal record after the designated period of time has elapsed. However, you cannot apply to have a conviction removed from your record any earlier. You must wait until the relevant period of time has elapsed, at which point the conviction will automatically be removed from your criminal record.

If you would like to know whether your conviction is ‘spent’, please read the information below.

Your criminal record

Your criminal history includes all arrests, court appearances, police warnings, fingerprints, convictions, non-convictions and even matters where you were found not guilty. These entries are kept on file by the police and will only be amended if a charge is dismissed or you have made a request to the police commissioner to have evidence of a charge removed.

Your criminal record is adduced from this criminal history and lists the convictions recorded against you. Even though a conviction remains permanently on your record, spent convictions and matters that have been dealt with under section 10 do not form part of your criminal record, but will be made known to a court if being sentenced for future offences.

‘Spent’ convictions

In NSW, we have a regime which involves many convictions becoming ‘spent’.

Most convictions are capable of becoming ‘spent’, meaning they can generally be disregarded (although there are exceptions). Generally, you will no longer be obliged to disclose the conviction, and any questions about your criminal history will not refer to this conviction.

A conviction is spent after a crime-free-period of 10 years for adults, and three years for children.  Meanwhile, a dismissal under section 10(1)(a) is spent immediately after the finding is made and a conditional discharge under section 10(1)(b) becomes spent at the end of the good behaviour period.

The Criminal Records Act 1991 sets out the limitations of spent convictions. The purpose of this scheme is to curb any long lasting discrimination that may result from a conviction. However not all convictions are capable of becoming spent. Convictions which will still remain on a criminal record include sexual offences or convictions which resulted in a prison sentence of more than 6 months.

There are further exceptions where spent convictions will remain relevant. It may be that the principles of a spent conviction will not apply in certain areas of employment including child care, teaching, firefighting, policing and the judiciary.

Your criminal history can only be released if it is requested by an authorised public body, or when you have provided consent. If you would like to obtain a copy of your own criminal record, you can do so at: http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/about_us/structure/specialist_operations/forensic_services/criminal_records_section