Criminal Defense
In short
An adjournment in contemplation of dismissal stops a misdemeanor or violation case in local criminal court and dismisses it automatically at the end of the adjournment period, six months in an ordinary case and one year in a family offense case. It is not a conviction and not an admission of guilt, and on dismissal the arrest and prosecution are deemed a nullity. It requires the consent of both the prosecutor and the defendant.
An ACD is an adjournment of the case without a date, ordered with a view to ultimate dismissal in the interest of justice. Under CPL 170.55 the case simply stops. If nothing happens during the adjournment period, the accusatory instrument is deemed dismissed automatically, and the arrest and prosecution are treated as a nullity.
It is not a plea, not a conviction, and not a finding of guilt. For a first arrest on a minor charge it is usually the best realistic outcome short of outright dismissal, and it is frequently better than fighting to trial.
CPL 170.55 operates in local criminal court and reaches an information, a simplified information, a prosecutor’s information or a misdemeanor complaint. That means misdemeanors and violations. It is not available on a felony complaint, though a felony reduced to a misdemeanor can then be resolved this way.
The timing rule is strict: the ACD must come before entry of a guilty plea and before trial begins. Once you plead, this option is gone.
Everyone. The statute allows it on motion of the People or the defendant with the consent of the other party, or on the court’s own motion with the consent of both. There is no route to an ACD over the prosecutor’s objection.
This is the practical center of gravity in most cases. Whether you get an ACD is usually a negotiation with the district attorney’s office, not an argument to the judge. Once an ACD is ordered, the court must release you on your own recognizance.
| Case type | Adjournment period |
|---|---|
| Ordinary misdemeanor or violation | Six months |
| Family offense as defined in CPL 530.11(1) | One year |
| Marijuana cases under CPL 170.56 | Twelve months, on its own terms |
At the end of the period, dismissal is automatic. Nobody has to file anything and you do not have to return to court for it. The instrument is deemed dismissed in furtherance of justice at the expiration of the period.
Yes, within the window. The statute permits the People to apply, at any time not more than six months after the order, or one year in a family offense case, to restore the case to the calendar. The court may restore it on a determination that dismissal would not be in furtherance of justice. The action then proceeds as though the ACD had never been granted.
Two things follow from the way that is written. Restoration runs on the People’s application, so an ACD is not a suspended sentence that a court supervises. And once the period expires without a restoration, the case is over. A late application is too late.
In practice restoration follows a new arrest or a plain failure to do whatever was agreed.
Fewer than people assume, and the limits are worth knowing.
| Condition | Limits |
|---|---|
| Order of protection | A temporary order may be issued under CPL 530.12 or 530.13 |
| Community service | Only where you have consented to the amount and conditions, and never longer than the adjournment period |
| Family violence education program | Available where the charge is between spouses, parent and child, or members of the same family or household |
| Dispute resolution | The court may require participation and compliance with the result |
| Alcohol awareness program | Only where the defendant is under twenty one, and expressly not for VTL 1192 charges |
Notice what is absent. The court cannot require you to admit guilt as the price of an ACD, because the statute says the grant is not an admission. And community service cannot be imposed on you the way a sentence can, since your consent is an element of the condition.
No, on both counts, and the statute is explicit. CPL 170.55(8) provides that granting an ACD “shall not be deemed to be a conviction or an admission of guilt” and that no person shall suffer any disability or forfeiture as a result of the order.
On dismissal, the arrest and prosecution are deemed a nullity and you are restored, in contemplation of law, to the status you occupied before the arrest. That is unusually strong statutory language, and it is why an ACD generally lets you answer no when asked whether you have been convicted of a crime.
Yes. Dismissal at the end of an ACD is a termination in your favor, which triggers automatic sealing under CPL 160.50. No application is needed.
Sealing happens on dismissal, not on the grant. During the six or twelve months the case is pending and the record is not yet sealed. And sealing under 160.50 carries the usual exceptions: law enforcement and qualified agencies, firearm licensing authorities, prospective employers of police and peace officers, and specified others retain access. Sealed is not erased, which is the same distinction that runs through record sealing generally.
Generally it is the safest common disposition, but it is not automatically safe, and the reason is worth understanding.
Federal law defines a conviction at 8 USC 1101(a)(48)(A) as a formal judgment of guilt, or, where adjudication is withheld, a finding of guilt, a guilty plea, or an admission of facts sufficient to establish the elements, together with some penalty or restraint. An ordinary ACD contains none of those. There is no plea, no finding, and the case is adjourned before either.
The risks come from the record rather than the label. An allocution in which the defendant admits the facts, a disposition mislabeled an ACD that actually rests on a plea, or a ground of inadmissibility that does not require a conviction at all, such as an admission to a controlled substance offense, can each cause trouble. Anyone who is not a citizen should have the plea minutes and the ACD order reviewed rather than relying on the disposition name.
Realistically, no. Be careful about why, because the usual explanation is not quite right.
CPL 170.55 contains only one express vehicle-related bar, in subdivision 9: no ACD on a Vehicle and Traffic Law offense related to the operation of a motor vehicle where the driver holds a commercial license or permit, or was driving a commercial vehicle. Parking, stopping and standing offenses are excluded from that bar.
The far more common obstacle is different. VTL 1192(10)(a)(i) requires that any guilty plea in satisfaction of a charge under VTL 1192(2), (3), (4) or (4-a) include a plea to at least one subdivision of 1192. That provision governs guilty pleas rather than ACDs, but it reflects a clear legislative judgment that alcohol-related driving charges are not to be disposed of as though they never happened. Combined with the consent requirement, which lets any prosecutor simply decline, the result is that ACDs on DWI and DWAI charges are not part of ordinary practice in New York.
| Disposition | Conviction? | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ACD | No | Automatic dismissal after the period, record sealed, arrest a nullity |
| Outright dismissal | No | Over immediately, sealed, no waiting period and no restoration risk |
| Disorderly conduct plea, PL 240.20 | Yes, but of a violation, not a crime | A conviction on your record. Partial sealing under CPL 160.55 |
| Conditional discharge | Yes | A criminal conviction with conditions attached |
The line people most often blur is the third one. A plea to disorderly conduct is a real conviction for a non-criminal offense. An ACD is not a conviction at all. If both are on the table, that difference usually matters more than anything else in the offer.
Nassau misdemeanor cases are heard at Nassau County District Court, 99 Main Street in Hempstead, with Glen Cove and Long Beach City Courts handling their own. Those are the courts with authority to grant an ACD, since the section operates only in local criminal court.
Because the Nassau County District Attorney’s consent is required, the work happens before the appearance rather than at it. Two practical points: many first-arrest cases that arrive on a desk appearance ticket are exactly the profile an ACD is designed for, and family offense cases carry the twelve month period rather than six, which matters when an order of protection runs alongside the adjournment.
Related: desk appearance tickets, sealing a criminal record, petit larceny and shoplifting, and criminal defense in Nassau County.
This guide is general information about New York law, not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes and penalties change, and how the law applies depends on facts no webpage knows. Check the linked primary source, and speak with a lawyer about your own case.
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