A discharge is a type of sentence imposed by a court whereby no punishment is imposed. An absolute discharge is an unconditional discharge whereby the court finds that a crime has technically been committed but that any punishment of the defendant would be inappropriate and the case is closed. In some jurisdictions, an absolute discharge means there is no conviction on the defendant's record, despite the plea of the defendant. A conditional discharge is an order made by a criminal court whereby an offender will not be sentenced for an offence unless a further offence is committed within a stated period. Once the stated period has elapsed and no further offence is committed then the conviction may be removed from the defendant's record. Australia In Australia, offenders can be discharged without being convicted, with or without being placed on a good behaviour bond (or other conditions). The sentencing options vary from state to state. Note that defendants can be discharged without conviction even if they plead guilty to the alleged crime. Canada In Canada, a discharge is a sentence passed in criminal court whereby an individual is found guilty of an offence but is deemed not to have been convicted. Although a discharge is not considered a conviction, a record of an absolute or conditional discharge is kept by Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) and by the charging police agency and is purged from the individual's police record after a period of time: one year in the case of an absolute discharge, three years for a conditional discharge. The Criminal Records Act states that except in exceptional circumstances, if the discharge is conditional, no record may be disclosed after three years. No conviction occurs, but the offender is required to fulfill certain conditions as part of the sentence. The offender is put on probation for a period of up to three years. In the case of a conditional discharge, an offender who fails to meet the conditions of the probation or commits another criminal offence during the probation period may be returned to court, have the discharge to be cancelled, and receive a criminal conviction and sentence for both the original offence and breach of probation. If the conditions of the discharge are met, it becomes an absolute discharge. A court may grant a conditional or absolute discharge only for offences with no minimum penalty and a maximum penalty of