Department for Correctional Services & Attorney-General’s Department (SA), Page last updated 26 July 2021
If the court rules that you’re guilty of a crime, the conviction will probably appear on your National Police Certificate (NPC), which is often referred to as a ‘police check’. Not all convictions stay on your record forever. It’s possible to have some removed, or ‘spent’. There’s a special process for applying to spend offences for conduct that’s no longer a crime – eg homosexual activity.
A separate process is used because homosexual activity should never have been a crime, and so removing the convictions needs to be assessed differently.
A spent conviction will not appear on your police records check and doesn’t have to be disclosed when you’re asked about your criminal history.
Find out more:
- Removing homosexual convictions – factsheet (PDF 290KB)
- Removing homosexual convictions – easy read factsheet (PDF 870KB)
- Complete a Magistrates Court Criminal Form 110 to apply to spend a conviction for homosexual conduct