Having a conviction recorded against you can affect your reputation, your work life and your life outside of work. If you are facing criminal charges and are concerned about the impact of a conviction, contact K. E Roussos & Associates today. Our lawyers are experts in securing non-convictions and will advise you of all your options and of steps you can take to safeguard your future.
Consequences of a conviction
Having a conviction can affect many aspects of your life.
A criminal conviction may affect your ability to:
- work in some industries
- obtain a working with children check (ochre card)
- obtain visas to travel to some countries
- obtain a gun license.
Non-conviction
In some cases, a court may find a person guilty and impose a sentence without recording a conviction. Whether a non-conviction is available depends on the offence and the sentence imposed. In exceptional and rare cases, the court may even find the offence proven and yet dismiss it!
When a court sentences a person to a fine, a community work order or a community-based order, it has a discretion as to whether or not to record a conviction. In deciding whether to record a conviction, a court will consider the factors set out in section 8 of the Sentencing Act 1995.
These are:
- the offender’s character, age, antecedents, health or mental condition
- the nature of the offence and whether it was trivial in nature
- whether the offence was committed under extenuating circumstances.
However, when a court sentences a person to imprisonment, it must record a conviction. This means that serious offences that attract jail terms will more often than not, result in convictions.
Securing a non-conviction
At K. E. Roussos & Associates, we understand that having convictions recorded against you could threaten your reputation, career, livelihood and future prospects.
If you are a contender for a non-conviction, we will help you to maximise your chances of avoiding a conviction by providing the court with detailed submissions and supporting material about:
- your prior good character
- all extenuating circumstances
- the likely impact of a conviction on your work prospects and on your life outside of work.
Withdrawing charges on public interest grounds
The prosecution sometimes withdraws charges if it considers that it is not in the public interest to continue with the prosecution.
Examples of situations where charges may be withdrawn on public interest grounds are:
- where the offence is trivial
- where the prosecution is likely to bring the law into disrepute
- where circumstances would prevent a fair trial from being conducted
- where the offence occurred a long time ago
- where there are alternatives to prosecution.
However, whether charges are likely to be withdrawn on public interest grounds will depend on all the circumstances of the case. If you are facing summary or criminal charges, in appropriate circumstances your matter might be a contender for the withdrawal of charges on public interest grounds. K. E. Roussos & Associates will outline all your options and where appropriate and, on your instructions, we will write to the DPP and make a case for this to occur.
We have succeeded in negotiating the withdrawal of serious charges, including aggravated assaults, riots and assault police on public interest considerations.