In Canada, a conditional discharge is a sentence passed in criminal court in which an individual is found guilty of an offence but is deemed not to have been convicted. As a result, a conditional discharge produces no criminal record. While no conviction occurs the offender is required to fulfill certain conditions as part of his or her sentence. The offender is put on probation for a period of up to three years. If the offender fails to meet the conditions of his or her probation, or commits another criminal offence during the probation period, he or she may be returned to court where the discharge is cancelled and the offender may be given a criminal conviction and sentence on the original offence as well as for breach of probation. [1] In law, a sentence forms the final act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. ... A criminal record or rap sheet is a generic term used to describe a compiled record of crimes that a person has committed or has allegedly committed. ... Probation is the suspension of a prison or jail sentence - the criminal who is on probation has been convicted of a crime, but instead of serving prison time, has been found by the Court to be amenable to probation and will be returned to the community for a period in...

If the conditions of the discharge are met it becomes an absolute discharge. In law, an absolute discharge is a sentence that carries no penalty nor conditions and leaves no criminal record. ...

A court may grant a conditional or absolute discharge only in offences that have a maximum penalty of less than fourteen years.

In Britain, a conditional discharge is a sentence in which the offender receives no immediate punishment if, in a period (set by the court) of between six months and three years no further offence is committed. If an offence is committed in that time, then the offender may also be sentenced for the offence in which a conditional discharge was given. In British conditional discharges, a conviction and record of the the discharge becomes part of the offender's criminal record. Under the Crime and Disorder Act, 1988, British courts can only hand down a conditional discharge in exceptional circumstances.