Can I avoid a criminal conviction for assault?

A video about how to avoid a criminal record if you plead guilty to assault

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Transcript:
This video is called can I avoid a criminal conviction for assault. It's designed for people who want to plead guilty to assault, but want to avoid a criminal conviction, that is a criminal record. The only way that you can plead guilty to a criminal charge and avoid a criminal conviction is to get what's called a section 10 dismissal or conditional release order. Section 10 dismissals and conditional release orders are where the magistrate says that you're guilty, but does not record a criminal conviction against your name. Now the first thing you should do if you're charged with assault is to determine whether the number and or seriousness of your charges can be reduced. For example if you're charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm or affray, which are relatively serious types of assault charges then you should see whether you can get them dropped down to just a common assault. You should also see whether you can get the police facts amended. What that means is when police charge you they will ultimately give you what's called a fact sheet that outlines the allegations against you. They can contain some relatively nasty things, for example they may say that you hit someone three times or four times, when your instructions, that is your advice, is that you only hit them once, you may say that you punch them, when you're adamant that you slapped them, or something like that. Your lawyer or yourself can ask for the police facts to be amended, that is watered down, so that the charge does not look as serious. That's a very important step. So it's reducing the number and or severity of the charges, and having the police fact sheet amended so that the facts aren't so serious. That's the first step. The second is you should consider drafting what's called a letter of apology to the victim. Now that's something that expresses remorse for what you've done. It's addressed to the victim and it says that you are sorry obviously for what you've done, accepts may offer to pay for their costs. For example if they incur any medical costs that are unreimbursed, or if you rip their shirt or something like that you can offer to pay for any loss. That's a letter of apology. Now you can give that to the police officer in charge or to the lawyer, to your lawyer, and your lawyer can pass that on to the police officer in charge, the police officer in charge can pass that on to the victim or complainants. So that's a letter of apology to victim. It's quite important because it shows that you're man enough or person enough to stand up for what you've done and really apologise to the person who was injured. The third thing you can consider doing is what's called a letter to the court, also called a letter of apology to the court. Now again that is accepting responsibility for what you've done, and apologising for what you've done. You can also talk about any steps that you've undertaken since the commission of the offence. For example if you've undertaken any counselling or you've been counselled by those in your family, or any positive steps you've done responsibility for the offence, and it to make up for this, and to ensure that it does not happen again. That's a letter to the court and a presodant, so an example of a letter to the court is contained on our website. Again you can give that to your lawyer, and your lawyer can hand out to the magistrate, and the magistrate will read through that and should take that into account in determining what your penalty is. The fourth thing you can consider are called character references. Character references are letters done by those who are close to you, who have known you for a long period of time, and they can speak about how this is outside your normal character, about how they know you, how you're normally a decent person or a person who is not prone to violence, and that again can be handed up to the magistrate and the magistrate can see that you can see that you've admitted this to those close to you and that you're accepting responsibility for what you've done. They can be considered when the magistrate is determining what your penalty will be. Character references, again an example of a character reference is contained on our website. The fifth thing you may wish to consider which I've already touched upon is counselling. So if for example you may have an underlying anger management issue or an alcohol use issue then you should consider seeing a counsellor...

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