Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016
PART 2 Spent Convictions | ||
Interpretation | ||
4. (1) In this Part — | ||
“child” means a person under the age of 18 years; | ||
“community service order” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act 1983 ; | ||
“conviction”, in relation to a person, means the conviction by a court of the person of an offence or, in the case of an appeal (whether against conviction or sentence, or both), the final determination by a court of the appeal or the withdrawal of the appeal; | ||
“court” means any court in the State exercising criminal or civil jurisdiction and includes a Special Criminal Court but does not include a court martial; | ||
“custodial sentence”, in relation to a person convicted of an offence, means any sentence of imprisonment imposed by the District Court or a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 12 months or less imposed by any other court on the person in respect of the offence (whether or not a fine is also imposed on the person in respect of the offence) and includes— | ||
(a) a sentence that is imposed concurrently with another sentence or sentences of imprisonment provided that the longer, or the longest, of the sentences is 12 months or less, | ||
(b) a sentence that is imposed consecutively with another sentence or sentences of imprisonment provided that the total period of imprisonment is 12 months or less, | ||
(c) a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 12 months or less, the execution of a part of which is suspended for a period specified by the court, | ||
(d) a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 12 months or less, the execution of a part of which is suspended for a period specified by the court but which suspension is subsequently revoked in whole or in part by the court, | ||
(e) a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 12 months or less, the execution of the whole of which is suspended for a period specified by the court but which suspension is subsequently revoked in whole or in part by the court, or | ||
(f) a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 12 months or less which is imposed on the person in relation to the offence following a revocation under section 8 or 11, as the case may be, of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act 1983 of a community service order in respect of the offence; | ||
“effective date of conviction”, means the date on which a custodial sentence or a non-custodial sentence, as the case may be, becomes operative in accordance with the order of the court concerned; | ||
“excluded sentence” means a sentence imposed by a court, other than the District Court — | ||
(a) of imprisonment for a term of more than 12 months unless it is a sentence specified in paragraph (a) of the definition of “ non-custodial sentence”, | ||
(b) for an offence that is reserved by law to be tried by the Central Criminal Court, or | ||
(c) for a sexual offence; | ||
“ non-custodial sentence”, in relation to a person convicted of an offence, means a sentence imposed by a court on the person in respect of an offence that is not a custodial sentence and is not in addition to a custodial sentence and includes— | ||
(a) a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 2 years or less, the execution of the whole of which is suspended for a period specified by the court and that suspension is not subsequently revoked in whole or in part by the court, | ||
(b) a fine, | ||
(c) an order under section 1 (2) of the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 , | ||
(d) a community service order made by a court that— | ||
(i) is not revoked, or | ||
(ii) if revoked under section 8 or 11, as the case may be, of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act 1983 , is not replaced by a custodial sentence, | ||
or | ||
(e) a restriction on movement order made under section 101 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 ; | ||
“relevant sentence” means a custodial sentence or a non-custodial sentence or both, as the case may be; | ||
“sexual offence” shall be construed in accordance with Schedule 1; | ||
“spent conviction” shall be construed in accordance with section 5; | ||
“state”, in relation to a state other than the State, includes a territory, whether in the state or outside it, for whose external relations the state or its government is wholly or partly responsible and references to a state shall be construed as including references to a subdivision of the government of the state or a national, regional or local entity of the state. | ||
(2) For the purposes of this Part, the following circumstances are circumstances ancillary to a conviction: | ||
(a) the offence which is the subject of the conviction; | ||
(b) the conduct constituting that offence; | ||
(c) any process or proceedings preliminary to the conviction; | ||
(d) any penalty imposed in respect of the offence which is the subject of the conviction; | ||
(e) any proceedings (whether by way of appeal or otherwise) for reviewing the conviction or penalty imposed for it; | ||
(f) anything done in pursuance of, or undergone in compliance with, any order made in connection with or as a result of the conviction. | ||
(3) For the purposes of this Part, a conviction of a person by the District Court— | ||
(a) which is appealed by the person to the Circuit Court, and | ||
(b) is affirmed or varied by the Circuit Court, | ||
shall, as so affirmed or varied by the Circuit Court be treated as if it were a conviction imposed by the District Court. |