How to avoid a criminal record in Victoria
- Engage one of our criminal lawyers to have all charges struck out at a preliminary hearing, prior to evidence being called.
- Engage one of our criminal lawyers to plead not guilty on your behalf and to assist you in being found not guilty by a magistrate, judge or a jury depending on the nature of the charge. For more information on pleading not guilty in the Magistrates’ Court click on the above link.
- Engage one of our criminal lawyers to petition the informant to provide you a diversion recommendation. This can often be a tricky exercise. The first step is to obtain the recommendation, the next step is to convince a magistrate or judicial registrar to grant the diversion. For more information about how to avoid a criminal record by way of diversion follow the link.
- If the matter is proceeding as a plea of guilty, engage one of our lawyers to assess whether the spent conviction legislation applies to your case and if so, to work out the best approach to argue for a non-conviction (that is, invite the Magistrate to not record a conviction)
- If you have been found guilty by a magistrate at first instance, or you have been convicted on a plea of guilty in circumstances where a non-conviction would have resulted in a spent conviction, engage our office to assist you in lodging an appeal to the County Court. You are always entitled to have a second chance (hearing De Novo) in the County Court when coming from the Magistrates’ Court. The only exception to this rule is if the matter relates to infringement warrants. Click here for running a not guilty conviction appeal in the County Court from the Magistrates’ Court.
Do all matters that go to court form part of your criminal record?
- The short answer to that question is yes. Any matter that proceeds at a court including all driving matters, speeding infringements where there has been an election to take the matter to court, tickets for driving that attracted immediate licence loss, including speeding offences, drink driving offences, drug driving offences and any other matter that proceeded to court will result in a record. The only exception to this rule relates to the spent conviction legislation.
If you would like further information on how to avoid a criminal record, please call one of our offices located at the top of the page, or click a link below.