What are the possible penalties?
Every order the Judge can make on this charge, from a dismissal without conviction to imprisonment, and what each one means for your record.
7.1The ladder
Overview
NSW sentencing law gives the Judge a set of orders that run from no conviction at all to full-time custody. They are listed below in order of seriousness. The single most important line in the table is the "conviction recorded" column, because it is the one that determines whether this matter appears on a criminal record check.
| Order | Section | Conviction recorded | What it involves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dismissal | s 10(1)(a) | No | Charge dismissed. No conditions, no penalty. |
| Conditional release order without conviction | s 10(1)(b), s 9 | No | Good behaviour and any other conditions for up to two years. Breach brings you back to court. |
| Conviction with no other penalty | s 10A | Yes | The conviction is the penalty. Nothing further. |
| Fine | s 15 | Yes | Up to 20 penalty units ($2,200). Payable to Revenue NSW, usually within 28 days, with time to pay available. |
| Conditional release order with conviction | s 9 | Yes | As above, but a conviction is recorded. |
| Community correction order | s 8 | Yes | Up to three years. Conditions can include supervision, community service up to 500 hours, curfews, program participation, non-association. |
| Intensive correction order | s 7 | Yes | A sentence of imprisonment of up to two years served in the community under supervision, with conditions that can include home detention, electronic monitoring and community service. Requires a suitability assessment. |
| Full-time imprisonment | s 5 | Yes | Custody. A non-parole period and a balance of term. |
Legal basis: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) ss 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10A, 15, 17. This is a summary for general understanding. The full provisions are more detailed and may not apply in all circumstances.
7.2The non-conviction outcomes
Section 10
Two orders leave you without a conviction, and people refer to both as "a section 10". They are not the same thing.
A dismissal under s 10(1)(a) is the court finding the offence proved and then dismissing the charge outright. No conditions. The matter is finished the moment the Judge says it. It is the best available outcome and the least common of the two, reserved for matters the court considers trivial or where the circumstances are strongly extenuating.
A conditional release order without conviction under s 10(1)(b) is the court finding the offence proved, declining to record a conviction, and releasing you on conditions for a period of up to two years. The standard conditions are that you do not commit any offence and that you appear before the court if called on. The Judge can add others: supervision by Community Corrections, participation in a drug program, a non-association condition. If you get through the period without breaching, the outcome is exactly as good as a dismissal. If you breach, you are brought back and can be resentenced for the original offence, this time with a conviction. For a first-offence possession matter with proper preparation, a CRO without conviction is the realistic target. It is never a guaranteed one.
Two things people get wrong about section 10. First, it is not something you apply for. In court, an "application" is a formal request with its own procedure, and section 10 is not that. It is one of the orders available to the Judge, who decides whether to make it after weighing everything in Lesson 9. You ask for it in your submissions; you do not lodge anything. Second, it is not a checklist. Having no record, good references and a completed program makes a non-conviction outcome more likely, sometimes much more likely, and the same facts before two Judges can produce two different orders. Nothing in this course, and nothing a lawyer can tell you, converts "likely" into "certain".
Both orders still involve a finding of guilt. That finding is recorded in court records and in police records, and it can be referred to if you come before a court again. What it does not do is appear as a conviction on a National Police Check for most purposes. Lesson 28 covers the exceptions.
7.3Fines
The most common outcome
The majority of people sentenced on this charge receive a fine with a conviction. The fine itself is usually modest, often between $200 and $600 for a first offence, and rarely approaches the $2,200 maximum. The cost that matters is not the money. It is the conviction that comes with it.
The Judge must consider your capacity to pay when setting the amount, so if you are on a low income or Centrelink, say so in your submissions and bring evidence. Fines are enforced by Revenue NSW and can be paid in instalments or, in some cases, worked off through a work and development order.
A court fine is different from a police penalty notice. Since 29 February 2024, under the Early Drug Diversion Initiative described in Lesson 1, police can deal with an eligible small-quantity possession by issuing a $400 penalty notice on the spot instead of a charge, and the person can have the fine treated as paid by speaking to a health professional. A penalty notice is not a conviction and does not appear on a criminal record. If you are reading this course you were charged rather than fined, and the court cannot convert your charge into a penalty notice; only police can, before the matter is finalised, which is why Lesson 5 shows you how to ask.
Legal basis: Justice Legislation Amendment (Penalty Notices) Regulation 2024 (NSW), commenced 29 February 2024; Fines Act 1996 (NSW) Part 3 (penalty notices). Requires principal review before release: confirm the current eligibility criteria and the treatment of paid penalty notices on record checks. This is a summary for general understanding.
The reason so many people receive a fine is not that the court prefers it. It is that most people on this charge arrive unprepared, and a fine is what the court does with an unprepared first offender. Every part of Module 3 exists to move you from this row of the table to the ones above it.
Legal basis: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) ss 6, 15; Fines Act 1996 (NSW). This is a summary for general understanding. The full provisions are more detailed and may not apply in all circumstances.
7.4Community-based orders
CCO and ICO
A community correction order is imposed where the court considers a fine inadequate but custody unnecessary. It can last up to three years and always carries a conviction. The conditions are where the weight is: community service work, supervision by Community Corrections with regular reporting, curfews, abstinence conditions, and participation in programs. A CCO for a possession matter usually signals prior offending or an unaddressed drug problem the court wants supervised.
An intensive correction order is a sentence of imprisonment, served in the community. The court first decides that custody is warranted and sets a term of up to two years, then decides the term can be served under intensive supervision instead. Before it can make an ICO the court must obtain an assessment report from Community Corrections, and some offences are excluded from ICOs altogether, though possession is not one of them. ICOs are rare on a bare possession charge and usually reflect other matters being sentenced at the same time.
If you are told at a mention that the court is ordering a sentencing assessment report, that is a signal that a community-based order is being considered, and you should read the guide on intensive correction orders and community correction orders before the next date.
Legal basis: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) ss 7, 8, 17C to 17J, 66 to 73A, 88 to 89A. This is a summary for general understanding. The full provisions are more detailed and may not apply in all circumstances.
7.5Diversion instead of sentence
Alternatives
Two pathways can take you out of the sentencing ladder entirely, and both need to be raised before sentence, not after.
MERIT. The Local Court's early referral into treatment program is a twelve-week treatment program for people with a drug problem connected to their offending. You are referred at a mention, assessed, and if accepted the matter is adjourned while you complete it. Successful completion is powerful material at sentence and often results in a non-conviction outcome. It is not available at every court and it is designed for people with a genuine drug problem, not as a strategy for occasional users. Lesson 14 covers it properly.
Section 14 mental health diversion. If you have a mental health condition or cognitive impairment, the court can dismiss the charge and discharge you into a treatment plan instead of sentencing you. This requires evidence, usually a report from a psychologist or psychiatrist, and it is a legal application with its own tests. It is not a self-representation pathway, and if it applies to you, it is the point at which advice is worth its cost.
Timing
Both pathways have to be raised before you are sentenced. If you plead guilty and are sentenced on the same day without mentioning either, the opportunity is gone. Lesson 11 explains how to plead and ask for an adjournment for assessment in the same breath.
Legal basis: Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW) s 14; MERIT program (NSW Health and Local Court NSW). This is a summary for general understanding. The full provisions are more detailed and may not apply in all circumstances.
7.6What this means for your preparation
Next
The difference between a fine with a conviction and a conditional release order without one is not luck and it is not the mood of the Judge. In the great majority of matters it is explained by whether the person arrived with references, an apology letter, evidence of a completed program and a clear set of submissions, or arrived with nothing. Module 3 is the work. Lessons 8 to 11 give you the framework that tells you what the work needs to prove.