{"id":8140,"date":"2026-10-01T08:42:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T12:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/avoiding-a-criminal-record-through-a-discharge\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T14:06:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T18:06:27","slug":"avoiding-a-criminal-record-through-a-discharge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/avoiding-a-criminal-record-through-a-discharge\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding a Criminal Record Through a Discharge"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Avoiding a Criminal Record Through a Discharge<\/h2>\n<p>Being found guilty of a criminal offence does not always result in a criminal record. In certain cases, the court may grant a <strong>discharge<\/strong>: the person is then deemed not to have been convicted.<\/p>\n<h2>Who can obtain a discharge?<\/h2>\n<p>A discharge is possible where the offence carries no minimum penalty and is not punishable by imprisonment for 14 years or for life. It is never automatic: the judge must be satisfied that it is in the best interests of the accused and not contrary to the public interest.<\/p>\n<p>It may be <strong>absolute<\/strong> or <strong>conditional<\/strong>, for example on compliance with a probation order for a specified period.<\/p>\n<h2>Why avoid a criminal record?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It makes job hunting more difficult and may lead to dismissal if the offence is related to your duties.<\/li>\n<li>It may restrict your travel abroad, particularly to the United States.<\/li>\n<li>It may complicate insuring your home or vehicle, as well as renting housing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Examples of eligible offences<\/h2>\n<p>Depending on the circumstances, a discharge may be considered for offences such as assault, uttering threats, criminal harassment, mischief, theft, possession of drugs or dangerous driving.<\/p>\n<p>How your situation is presented to the judge is decisive. Your lawyer prepares the evidence showing that a discharge is warranted in your case. Depending on the file, an acquittal is sometimes possible.<\/p>\n<h2>Need a criminal law lawyer?<\/h2>\n<p>Every case is different. Our lawyers will analyze your situation and explain your options. In criminal matters, acting quickly often makes a difference.<\/p>\n<p>Montr\u00e9al area: <a href=\"tel:5149907884\">514 990-7884<\/a><br \/>Elsewhere in Quebec: <a href=\"tel:18779907884\">1 877 990-7884<\/a><\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/criminal-charge\/\"><strong>Criminal Charges<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- st-voir-aussi --><\/p>\n<h2>See also<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/criminal-charge\/\">Criminal Charge<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/ive-been-criminally-charged-can-you-help-me\/\">I\u2019ve been criminally charged. Can you help me?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!-- st-auteur --><\/p>\n<div class=\"st-auteur\" style=\"margin-top:2em;padding-top:1em;border-top:1px solid #ddd;font-size:0.95em;\">\n<p><strong>Written by Antonio Alvarez, Lawyer<\/strong><br \/>\nSolution Ticket inc.<br \/>\n229-3221, autoroute Laval O.<br \/>\nLaval (Qu\u00e9bec) H7P\u00a05P2<br \/>\n<a href=\"tel:+15149907884\">514\u00a0990-7884<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\">www.solutionticket.com<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:info@solutionticket.com\">info@solutionticket.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being found guilty does not always result in a criminal record. In certain cases, the court may grant a discharge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7237,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criminal","category-information-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8776,"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8140\/revisions\/8776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solutionticket.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}