Conditional Discharge

A sentence where no punishment is imposed, but no other offence may be committed during a certain amount of time. If a person does commit another offence and are brought back to court they will be sentenced for both offences.

A conditional discharge is available provided the offence is not fixed by law, when the offence is not serious enough to warrant immediate punishment.  A conditional discharge can last up to three years,  although is likely to be considerably shorter for children. 

Restrictions

A conditional discharge’s availability may be limited to exceptional circumstances, if the child defendant had received two or more youth cautions or a youth conditional caution followed by a youth caution in the previous 24 months. If there are exceptional circumstances according to the court, the reasons must be stated in open court.  It may also be limited for a child convicted of breaching the requirements of a criminal behaviour order. 

Breach

A conditional discharge is breached if the child is convicted of a further offence during the period of the conditional discharge.  The child would be liable to be re-sentenced for the original offence.