Talk:Discharge (sentence)

Effect of discharges in England

England:

"An absolute discharge is a lesser sentence imposed by a court, in which no penalty is imposed at all. It is normally passed when a defendant is being sentenced for more than one crime:(1) after receiving a heavier sentence for his most serious crime, he may then receive no separate penalty for a more trivial crime. Exceptionally, however, a court occasionally grants an absolute discharge for the whole of his conduct (the signalman in the Thirsk rail crash is an example of this). This usually signifies that while a crime may technically have been committed, the imposition of any punishment would, in the opinion of the judge or magistrates, be quite inappropriate. (2) Both a Conditional and Absolute Discharge send a message from the bench to the Crown Prosecution Service that the prosecution was a waste of time and not in the public interest."

(1) It's not right that an absolute discharge is akin to no separate penalty, think this should be edited? (2) Wouldn't put it as strong as that, it's not unusual to give a conditional discharge for reasons other than disapproval of the Prosecution?

LondonDan (talk) 23:17, 24 Jan 2010 (UTC)

R v Southwark Crown Court, x parte. Smith [2001] 2 Cr.App.R. (S.) 35

G plea before a magistrates' court possessing a firearm and ammunition without a certificate. 3 months imprisonment. D pleaded G on the basis that by failing to renew the certificates he was in breach of the law. The Divisional Court granted the application and substituted a sentence of 12 months conditional discharge. Ron Barker (talk) 19:17, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

England: Effect of discharge on license

do you lose your license on a conditional discharge?

No, i recently took a conditional discharge and i still have my license. I'm not sure if it is different for anyone else but the severity of your charge may change the course of action the court will take because eery judge is different —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.182.53.102 (talk) 16:38, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Thrisk rail crash

The reference to a Thirsk rail crash probably should point to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirsk_rail_crash_%281892%29 . I'm making the change on the basis of scant available knowledge; if an authority on the subject can confirm or deny, it'd be appreciated. -- User: Rosuav 124.168.116.114 (talk) 23:57, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

New Zealand

This caught my eye:

For example, if a high-end businessman is caught in possession of a small quantity of marijuana, due to the small nature of the crime compared to the effects a conviction (even without a sentence) would have, he may be discharged without conviction.

The specific mention of "a high-end businessman" seems to imply that "ordinary" people might be treated less leniently for the same offence. Is that really the case? Loganberry (Talk) 03:25, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Do you really think the courts are places of fairness? The police and prosecution are looking for any way of racking up 'guilty findings' cautions and discharges all go towards their careers. They even go steps further as in the UK they have no oversight, there's no FBI or internal affairs, these people are accountable to no-one, the Independent Police Complaints Commission are 2 people and a chair, and anything but independent.--86.25.211.46 (talk) 01:56, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

American

There's no section on a "CD" in American law. Is there a reason for this omission?--Pink Bull (talk) 05:50, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

-- I think it is only certain states in the US that have a conditional discharge (or something equivalent to it). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.90.135.118 (talk) 08:35, 4 February 2011 (UTC) Examples are New York State ("Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal" (ACD)) and North Carolina ("Prayer for Judgement Continued" (PJC)).

-- The closest equivalent to a conditional discharge would be Nominal Damages under civil (chancery) law, and either a Suspended sentence or Probation under criminal law.

The closest equivalent to an Absolute Discharge under US law would be Suspended Sentence with a sealed record under criminal law. Depending on the jurisdiction, the defendant could also apply to have the record expunged.
——Based on my Business Law course about 12 years ago. I may or may not bother citing / adding it to the article.Divercth (talk) 16:24, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

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Does anyone else see this at the beginning? 88.104.129.171 (talk) 15:01, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

——I did not. It may have been deleted by a bot - please check the page history. Divercth (talk) 15:58, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Merge with Suspended Sentence

I'm probably not coding this right, but this page should probably be merged with the Suspended sentence page, since these are analogous legal theories.Divercth (talk) 16:43, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

They are not analogous theories. A suspended sentence means the person is found guilty, convicted and a probation order is made. No jail sentence or fine is imposed provided the person does not break the conditions of the probation order. If the person breaks the probation order, the probation order can be terminated and the person sentenced to jail on the original charge. Whether or not the person breaks the probation order, the person gets a criminal record.

A discharge is different. When a person is discharged, the person is also found guilty but not convicted. The person gets no criminal record. The charge is taken back. The discharge can be either given own its own or on the conditions prescribed in a probation order. If the person gets discharged on conditions and the person breaks the conditions, the discharged can be revoked and the person would then be convicted and sentenced. But if probation order expires without violations, the discharge is then as absolute as a discharge without conditions and the person can never be convicted of the original offense.

So the difference between suspended sentence and discharge is criminal record and no criminal record, respectively. In some US states, the equivalent to a discharge is "withheld adjudication" (https://www.thelaw.com/threads/what-does-adjudication-withheld-mean.1484/). 104.234.245.1 (talk) 05:16, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

not true

The conditional discharge does not become an absolute discharge in English law at any time.Please get a barrister to check.--81.174.224.233 (talk) 12:56, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

But the probation order eventually expires. The conditional discharge is then no longer conditional. If it's no longer conditional then it's practically, for all intents and purposes, absolute. Just as absolute as a discharge without conditions. 104.234.245.1 (talk) 05:30, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

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