Pleading guilty

Pleading guilty

If you plead guilty, you ​are telling the court you agree with the charges. You may still have an explanation for the offence, or there may have been 'mitigating' circumstances, and you will have the opportunity to tell the magistrate about this.

Different discounts on penalty apply depending on the type of offence you have been charged with and at what stage you have pleaded guilty.  

You should get legal advice about your specific situation and about what the benefit would be in pleading guilty. 

Information from police

If you are going to court to plead guilty to a driving or criminal charge, the police prosecutor will give the magistrate some information to take into consideration before sentencing you.

For more information, see Information from the police.

Pleading guilty in writing

If you have received a court attendance notice (CAN), you may be able to plead guilty in writing instead of going to court. You can do this by filling out a form called a 'written notice of pleading' and sending it to the court at least seven days before your court date. 

You cannot use a written notice of pleading if you are on bail. You must attend court.

Different discounts on penalty apply depending on the type of offence you have been charged with and what stage you have pleaded guilty. You should get legal advice about your specific situation and what the benefit would be in pleading guilty.  

Before pleading guilty in writing, you should get legal advice. The court may not accept it and may want you to come to court instead.

For more information, see Pleading guilty in writing to a criminal charge.

Preparing for court

Before you go to court, you should think about:

• whether there are any courses or programs you can do that the court can take into consideration when sentencing you
  
• your criminal and driving records (if you have one) and how they might affect you
  
• what you want to say to the magistrate
  
• who can write a character reference for you
  
• any other evidence you might want to show the court.
  

If you cannot go to court, you may be able to ask for an adjournment for the case to be moved to a different court house.

For more information, see Step by step guide - Preparing for a guilty plea.

Going to court

When you go to court for the mention, you will need to find the courtroom where your case will be heard.

After the magistrate has called your name, you will need to tell the magistrate you want to plead guilty.

The police prosecutor will hand up some documents including the CAN, Police Facts Sheet and your criminal and/or driving record. You will then get a chance to hand up your documents and make your submissions.

For more information about what documents to bring, see  

After the magistrate has read all the material and listened to what you and the police prosecutor have to say, they will make a decision about what penalty to give you. This means you will be 'sentenced'.

Sometimes before the magistrate sentences you they may request a sentencing assessment report. A sentencing assessment report is prepared by an officer of Corrective Services NSW after they have interviewed you. The report will tell the magistrate what sentencing options are and are not available. The report can be prepared on the same day or your case may be adjourned to give Corrective Services NSW time to prepare it. 

If the factual information in your sentencing assessment report is not correct, you should get legal advice. 

For more information, see Step by step guide - Going to court pleading guilty. 

Changing your plea

You can only apply to change your plea from guilty to not guilty after you have entered your plea and before you are sentenced.

There must be exceptional circumstances for your plea to be changed from guilty to not guilty. Exceptional circumstances could include where you:

• did not understand the charge/s and did not get any legal advice
  
• were pressured or threatened to plead guilty.
  

If you have already entered a guilty plea and you want to change this to not guilty, you should get legal advice.

The decision

The penalty the magistrate imposes depends on what the law says is the penalty for the particular offence you committed.  However, the magistrate may also:

• find you guilty but not convict you (called a s10(1)(a) or section 10 dismissal)
• find you guilty but not convict you and refer you to an intervention program (called a s10(1)(c)) 
  
• find you guilty but not convict you and make a conditional release order (CRO) 
  
• convict you with no other penalty (called a s10A) 
  
• fine you
  
• make a conditional release order (CRO) 
  
• make a conditional correctional order (CCO) 
  
• make an intensive correction order (ICO) 
  
• give you a term of imprisonment.
  

The court can also make other orders about your licence.

For more information, see The decision.

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