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Alert
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.
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Time limit
If you want to plead guilty in writing, you must do so at least seven days before your court date.
This section has information to help you prepare and present your guilty plea. 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.
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.
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.
You can use a Written Notice of Pleading to plead guilty if:
- you were released without bail, or
- you have elected to go to court.
You can’t file a Written Notice of Pleading if you are on bail, have been refused bail or your bail has been dispensed with. If you are on bail and you can’t attend court in person, you may be able to appear by audio visual link (AVL) or telephone. If you are on bail and you have a lawyer, you may not have to attend court if your lawyer appears on your behalf.
If you are unsure whether you have to attend court, you should get legal advice. If you are required to attend court and you don’t, your case may be decided in your absence or a warrant may be issued for your arrest.
A Written Notice of Pleading is a form that tells the Court you want to plead guilty or not guilty. If you plead guilty in writing, the Court will make a decision based on what you write in the form and any other documents or information you provide.
You might want to plead guilty in writing if you can't get to court on the date in the CAN. For example, you may:
- live out of state and you can't travel back to NSW to get to court
- have work or other commitments on the court date that you would find hard to break.
You can also send a letter or email to the Court to plead guilty, instead of using the form. The Court has the power to decide whether any letter or email you have sent will be taken as a Written Notice of Pleading.
If you disagree with anything in the Police Facts Sheet and want it changed you may not get the chance to talk to the police prosecutor about it if you file a Written Notice of Pleading.
A blank form may be sent to you with your CAN. You can also get a copy from:
- your nearest Local Court registry, or
- the Forms page on the Local Court of NSW website.
In your form, you will need to include:
- your name
- the details of the offence listed on your CAN
- the name and address of the Court you are required to attend
- the date you are required to attend court
- information about how and why the offence happened
- information about yourself, including your financial situation, your character and personal circumstances.
You should also attach:
- character references
- any other relevant documents, for example, medical reports.
For information about how to get character references and a full list of the things you can ask the court to consider, see Step by step guide - Preparing for a guilty plea.
You don’t need to sign your form in front of an authorised witness.
If possible it is better to go to court to plead guilty. If you go to court you can explain your version of events and you can answer any questions the Court may have.
You can file your completed form with the registry of the Court that is hearing your case:
- in person
- by email
- by post, or
- by fax.
You should send your Written Notice of Pleading to the courts postal address, not the street address that appears on your CAN. You can find the courts postal address on the Court locations, listing and sitting arrangements page on the Local Court of NSW website.
After you have filed your completed form, you should call the registry to check that it was received and placed on your file.
You must make sure the Court has your Written Notice of Pleading at least seven days before the mention date. If they receive it any later, the Court may decide to sentence you without considering it.
The Court may reject your Written Notice of Pleading if:
- the explanation provided shows that you disagree with the Police Facts Sheet
- the Court does not want to decide the case without you being there. For example, if the Court decides to give you a good behaviour bond, you will be required to attend court to sign the bond. In this case, the Court will adjourn (postpone) your case to another day and ask you to come to court.
The Court will notify you of its decision in response to your guilty plea, including any sentence you have been given.
You will be notified by email if you elected to be notified by email in your Written Notice of Pleading. If you didn’t elect to be notified by email, the Court will send you a letter by post.
If you want to know the decision sooner, you can call the court registry.
If the Court accepts your Written Notice of Pleading, but you are not happy with your sentence, you can appeal to the District Court within 28 days from the date of the decision. You should get legal advice before appealing.
For more information, see Appeals.
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.
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.
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 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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