Admonition
Admonition (or "being admonished") is a punishment under Scots law when an offender has been found guilty but is neither imprisoned nor fined but receives verbal discipline and is afterwards set free; the conviction is still recorded. This disposition is comparable to an absolute discharge in jurisdictions where an absolute discharge involves the recording of a conviction (i.e., where the "discharge" is from punishment only) but stands in contrast to an absolute discharge in jurisdictions in which an absolute discharge does not involve the recording of a conviction (i.e., where the "discharge" is from conviction as well).
It is usually the result of either the strict application of law where no real wrong has been caused or where other circumstances (e.g. time already spent in custody or attending court) make further punishment unjust in the circumstances specific to the case involved.
Currently, admonition holds a 5 year disclosure period due to absence of mention in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and thus being classified as an "other" offence.
References
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Look up admonition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Jacqueline Tombs (2004). Unique punishment Sentencing and the Prison Population in Scotland (PDF). Scottish Consortium on Crime & Criminal Justice. p. 76.
Admonition – means that the offender receives a warning from the court and a conviction.
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