South Australian Numbered Acts

SENTENCING ACT 2017 (NO 26 OF 2017) - SECT 23

23—Discharge without penalty

        (1)         If a court finds a person guilty of an offence but finds the offence so trifling that it is inappropriate to impose a penalty, the court may—

            (a)         without recording a conviction—dismiss the charge; or

            (b)         on recording a conviction—discharge the defendant without penalty.

        (2)         If a court finds a person guilty of an offence and—

            (a)         the defendant has spent time in custody in respect of the offence; and

            (b)         the court is satisfied there is good reason not to impose any further penalty on the defendant,

the court may—

            (c)         without recording a conviction—dismiss the charge; or

            (d)         on recording a conviction—discharge the defendant without further penalty.

        (3)         A court may exercise the powers conferred by this section despite any minimum penalty fixed by an Act or statutory instrument.