Spent convictions and your criminal record
What shows on a police check, how long a conviction follows you, what spent means, what is never spent, and when you still have to disclose.
A conviction in NSW becomes spent after ten years without a further conviction for an adult, or three years for a juvenile, provided the sentence was not imprisonment of more than six months. Once spent you generally do not have to disclose it and it does not show on a standard police check. A finding of guilt without conviction under section 10 is treated as spent immediately. Some jobs and licences are excluded and require disclosure regardless.
- Work out the date your conviction is spent from the table belowSection 3 of this guide
- If you are applying for a role that involves children, policing, or a licence, check the exclusions before you answer any questionSection 5 of this guide
- If you are asked, disclose plainly; the wording is in section 6Section 6 of this guide
If you hold a visa, or you are applying for a working with children check, a security licence, or admission to a profession, the spent convictions scheme may not protect you. Get advice before you answer the form.
| Crime-free period | 10 years for adults, 3 years for juveniles |
| Cannot be spent | Imprisonment over 6 months; sexual offences; prescribed convictions |
| Section 10 findings | Treated as spent immediately |
| Standard police check | Spent convictions not disclosed |
| Excluded roles | Children, policing, justice, some licences: full disclosure may be required |
1What a police check shows
Start here
A National Police Check is run through the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, usually by an accredited provider, and shows what the police records of every state disclose under that state's rules. For NSW, that means convictions that are not spent, findings of guilt that are not treated as spent, and pending charges. It shows the offence, the date, the court and the penalty. It does not show charges that were withdrawn or dismissed after a not guilty finding, and it does not show spent convictions, except for the excluded purposes described below.
A Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check for a working with children check or for certain licences is a different, broader check, and it can disclose things a standard check does not.
2What spent means
The scheme
The Criminal Records Act 1991 sets up a scheme under which, after a crime-free period, a conviction becomes spent. Once it is spent, you are not required to disclose it for most purposes, a question about your criminal history is taken to refer only to unspent convictions, and it is unlawful for most people to disclose it or to take it into account. An employer or landlord who asks "have you ever been convicted" is, in law, asking only about unspent convictions, and answering no is lawful.
Legal basis: Criminal Records Act 1991 (NSW) ss 7, 12. This is a summary for general understanding. The full provisions are more detailed and may not apply in all circumstances.
3When a conviction becomes spent
The table
| Situation | When spent |
|---|---|
| Adult conviction, no imprisonment or imprisonment of six months or less | Ten years after the conviction, provided you are not convicted of a further offence punishable by imprisonment in that time |
| Juvenile conviction (Children's Court) | Three years after the conviction, on the same condition |
| Finding of guilt without conviction, s 10 dismissal or CRO without conviction | Treated as spent immediately, though a breach of the CRO that leads to resentence with a conviction restarts the clock |
| Conviction with no penalty, s 10A | Ten years, as for other adult convictions |
| Further conviction during the period | The period restarts from the later conviction, for both |
The ten years runs from the date of conviction, not from the end of any order or disqualification. A conviction in 2016 with a two-year CRO was spent in 2026 if nothing else happened.
Legal basis: Criminal Records Act 1991 (NSW) ss 8, 9, 10. Requires principal review before release: confirm the treatment of s 10 findings under s 8(2) and the effect of a CRO breach. This is a summary for general understanding. The full provisions are more detailed and may not apply in all circumstances.
4Convictions that are never spent
Exclusions from the scheme
A conviction for which a sentence of imprisonment of more than six months was imposed cannot become spent, and an intensive correction order counts as imprisonment for this purpose. Convictions for sexual offences cannot become spent. Convictions against companies, and certain other prescribed convictions, are outside the scheme. A person with one of these convictions discloses it for the rest of their life, and it appears on every check.
Legal basis: Criminal Records Act 1991 (NSW) s 7(1), s 7(4). This is a summary for general understanding. The full provisions are more detailed and may not apply in all circumstances.
5When you must still disclose
Excluded purposes
Even a spent conviction must be disclosed, and can be taken into account, for a list of purposes set out in the Act and its regulation. The list is long and is amended regularly. The main groups are: applications to be a police officer, a judge, a justice of the peace, or to work in a correctional centre or the courts; applications for a working with children check and employment involving the care of children or vulnerable people; applications for certain licences, including firearms and some security and commercial licences; admission as a lawyer; and proceedings before a court, where a prior finding can be raised. For these purposes the check discloses everything and the question means everything.
Read the exclusions before you answer
The exclusion list changes. Before you rely on a conviction being spent for a particular application, check the current regulation or ask. Answering no when the exclusion applied to your application is worse than the conviction.
Legal basis: Criminal Records Act 1991 (NSW) ss 13, 15; Criminal Records Regulation 2024 (NSW). Requires principal review before release: confirm the current exclusion categories. This is a summary for general understanding. The full provisions are more detailed and may not apply in all circumstances.
6Disclosing an unspent conviction
How to say it
If the conviction is not yet spent and you are asked, disclose it plainly and briefly. The form of words that works: the offence, the year, one sentence of context, and one sentence on what has changed. "I was convicted of possessing a small quantity of a drug in 2024. It was a first offence, I completed a program, and it has not recurred." An employer who finds an undisclosed conviction has a reason to dismiss. One who was told has a decision to make, and most make it in your favour.
Do not volunteer a spent conviction, and do not volunteer a conviction you have not been asked about. Answer the question that is asked, accurately.
7Interstate, Commonwealth and overseas
Other schemes
Each state and the Commonwealth has its own spent convictions scheme with its own periods and exclusions. A NSW conviction is spent under NSW rules wherever the check is run in Australia, but a Victorian or Commonwealth conviction follows its own scheme. Overseas, other countries do not recognise the Australian scheme at all: the United States visa waiver asks about conduct, not convictions, and the guide on what if you have a conviction in the possession course deals with travel in detail.
Legal basis: Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) Part VIIC (Commonwealth scheme). This is a summary for general understanding. The full provisions are more detailed and may not apply in all circumstances.
If a visa, a professional admission or a working with children check is involved
Character provisions under migration law and the disclosure rules for professions and child-related work operate outside the spent convictions scheme, on findings of guilt as well as convictions. A consultation with the lawyers who built Standard before you complete the application is the right step.
Request a consultationGeneral information only, not legal advice. NSW-specific. Every matter turns on its own facts and laws can change. Reading this guide does not create a solicitor-client relationship between you and the lawyers who produced it.