Possible penalties and sentences

When to get legal advice

Get legal advice if you:

• have been charged with an offence and you're going to court
• have been convicted of an offence by a court but don't understand what you must do
• are on a good behaviour bond and broke the law again
• are on probation and broke the law or didn’t meet the conditions of your probation order
• are on a community service order and you have broken the conditions of your order
• were given a suspended sentence and you have broken the law
• have been given an intensive correction order and broken the law
• can't pay a court ordered fine and are concerned about the action SPER is taking against you
• have any questions about your sentence or what the court may do.

How to get legal advice

How the court decides your penalty or sentence

The Penalties and Sentences Act sets out the things the court needs to consider when deciding your penalty or sentence.

The court will consider things like:

• the need to punish you for what you have done
• if you need help to make sure you don’t break the law again
• what sort of punishment will stop you from committing the same or a similar offence again
• the need to make it clear to the community that this type of behaviour is unacceptable
• the need to protect the community
• the nature of the offence and how serious the offence was
• any damage, injury or loss caused by the offence
• how your offence has affected other people
• how much you helped law enforcement during the investigation of the offence or other offences
• your character, age and intellectual capacity.

Types of penalties and sentences

The type of penalty or sentence the court may order depends on what you did.

The court can give you one or more of the following penalties:

• fine
• restitution
• good behaviour bond
• probation
• community service
• graffiti removal order, if you are charged with a graffiti offence
• banning order
• intensive corrections order
• suspended sentence
• jail sentence.

You will be given a copy of any court order that includes your penalty or sentence. Make sure you keep a copy of all your court documents.

If you don’t understand your penalty or sentence, get legal advice.

Fine

The court will order you to pay the fine within a certain timeframe. If you don’t pay on time (called ‘in default’), you may be sent to jail. For example, the magistrate might say ‘$200 in default 5 days, 3 months to pay’. This means you have 3 months to pay the $200 fine—if you don’t pay, you may be sent to jail for 5 days.

If you don’t pay the fine on time, you don’t go straight to jail. The court will send notice of the fine to the State Penalties and Enforcement Registry (SPER) who has powers to collect unpaid fines.

If you can't pay the fine, you can apply for:

• an instalment plan, which lets you pay your fine in instalments over time
• a Centrepay instalment plan, which allows you to pay the fine in instalments from your Centrelink payment
• a fine option order, which allows you to do community service instead of paying the fine.

If you refuse to pay the fine, SPER can:

• suspend your driver licence
• direct your bank to transfer funds from your account to SPER
• direct your employer to deduct a certain amount from your wage each month
• register an interest over your property
• immobilise your vehicle
• seize and sell your property
• issue a warrant for your arrest and imprisonment.

SPER may also charge you an enforcement fee on top of the original fine if they take one of the above actions.

Restitution

Restitution is money you pay to a victim of an offence as compensation for loss, damage or injury you caused. For example, if you kick a car door and cause damage, the court can order you to pay the car’s owner the cost to repair the damage.

An order for restitution may state:

• how much you must pay
• who you must pay the money to
• the timeframe the money must be paid by
• the way in which the restitution must be paid
• you will be sent to prison if you fail to pay.

The court may refer the restitution to SPER for collection and enforcement.

If you don’t pay the money on time:

• the victim may sue you for the money
• you may have to go to prison for a set number of days.

You can’t apply for a fine option order (community service) instead of paying restitution.

If you can't pay the restitution within the time ordered by the court, you should get legal advice about your options.

Good behaviour bond

A good behaviour bond is a promise you won’t break the law for a period of time.

You will need to sign a document called a ‘recognisance’ that states you accept you have an obligation to be of good behaviour for a set time and will list an amount of money you must pay to the court if you break the law while under the good behaviour bond.

If you break the law while you are on the good behaviour bond:

• you will have to pay the money ordered by the court, and
• the court may issue a warrant for you to be arrested and brought back to the court for the original offence and give you a different sentence.

Probation

If you are on probation, you must not break the law for a set time period and will be required to meet other conditions under the order.

You can only be given a probation order if you are considered suitable and agree to the order.

A probation order can be from 6 months to 3 years.

The probation order will include conditions you must:

• report to a probation officer at a community corrections office after sentencing (usually within 48 hours)
• regularly report to and be visited by a probation officer
• tell your probation officer within 2 days if you change address
• follow every reasonable direction of your probation officer.

The order will also state that you must not:

• break the law during the period of the order
• leave Queensland without the approval of your probation officer.

The probation order may also include other conditions specific to your situation, such as drug testing, counselling or paying restitution.

If you don’t meet the conditions of the order, you may be charged with ‘breach of probation’ and your probation may be cancelled. If your probation is cancelled before the time it was due to finish, you will have to go back to court for the original offence and be given a different sentence.

Community service

Community service is unpaid work you do under the direction of a community corrections officer.

You can only be put on community service if a corrective services officer thinks you are suitable and—in most circumstances—you must agree to the community service. There are some offences for which community service is mandatory. See ‘mandatory community service’ below.

Usually, you must finish your community service hours within 12 months from the date you are sentenced, but the court can order you to complete your community service hours sooner or extend the time.

The community service order must include conditions you must:

• report to a community corrections officer after sentencing (usually within 48 hours)
• regularly report to and be visited by a community corrections officer
• carry out the community service work satisfactorily in the time set out in the order
• tell your community corrections officer within 2 days if you change address
• follow every reasonable direction of your community corrections officer.

You must also not:

• break the law during the period of the order
• leave Queensland without the approval of your community corrections officer

If you do not meet the conditions of the order, you can be charged with a ‘breach of a community service order’ and you will have to go back to court and may be given a different sentence for the original offence.

If your circumstances change and you can't finish the community service, you must apply to have the community service order changed.

Mandatory community service

If you are convicted of certain offences involving violence and the offence was committed in a public place while you were intoxicated, the court must make a community service order in addition to any other penalties you receive—unless the court is satisfied you aren’t capable of following the order due to a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability.

Graffiti removal orders

A graffiti removal order is an order you carry out unpaid work removing graffiti.

If you are convicted by a court of a graffiti offence and you were 12 or older when you committed the offence, the court must make a graffiti removal order—unless the court is satisfied you aren’t capable of following the order due to a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability. 

Banning order

A banning order is an order that stops you from entering or remaining at:

• a licensed premises (e.g. a bar)
• an area close to licensed premises (e.g. a certain distance from licensed premises or a street or safe night precinct)
• an event where alcohol is being sold.

A court may make a banning order if:

• you are convicted of an offence that involves violence or threats of violence to a person or property
• the offence occurred in a licensed premises or in the vicinity of a licensed premises
• the court thinks the order is necessary to protect the:
  
  
  • good order of a licensed premises and the area around the licensed premises
  • safety and welfare of others

A banning order shouldn’t stop you from going to your own home, place of employment or education, or any other place the court thinks you need to access to prevent undue hardship to you or a family member.

If you are given a banning order, you may need to attend a police station to have your photo taken.

A copy of your banning order and photo may be given to the owner or manager of the places named in the order so they can stop you from entering.

You can’t apply to the court to have a banning order amended or revoked until at least 6 months after the order was made.

If you disobey a banning order, you may be charged with an offence.

Intensive correction order

An intensive correction order (ICO) is a jail sentence but you do not spend time in jail, you stay living in the community. You can only get an ICO if the court gives you a jail sentence for one year or less.

An ICO can only be made if you agree to:

• the order being made
• follow with the conditions of the order.

The ICO must contain conditions you must:

• report to a corrections officer within the time stated in the order
• report to and be visited by your community corrections officer at least twice a week while the order is in place
• take part in counselling and attend any other programs as directed by the court or your corrections officer
• carry out any community service work satisfactorily in the time set out in the order
• reside at community residential facilities sometimes (no longer than 7 days) if directed by your corrections officer
• tell your community corrections officer within 2 days if you change address
• follow every reasonable direction of your community corrections officer.

You must also not:

• break the law during the period of the order
• leave Queensland without the approval of your corrections officer.

An ICO may also say you must:

• have medical, psychiatric or psychological treatment
• meet other conditions the court considers necessary to stop you from offending again and to make sure you behave in a way that is acceptable to the community.

If you do not meet the conditions of the order, you will almost certainly have to spend the time in jail instead of in the community.

If you can't meet the conditions of the order or are unsure about what is required, you should get legal advice.

Suspended sentence

Usually when the court sentences you to jail, you go to jail straight from court.

However, the court can order a suspended sentence. From the time the sentence is suspended, you don’t have to be in jail.

If the court gives you a jail sentence for 5 years or less, the court can suspend your sentence for up to 5 years. This is called the operational period.

The suspension can start:

• immediately (called ‘wholly suspended’)—so you don’t go to jail at all, as long as you don't break the law during the operational period
  
  or
• after you spend some time in jail, (called ‘partly suspended’)—so you go to jail for a while and then leave when the suspension starts, as long as you don't break the law during the operational period.

If you are on a suspended sentence and you break the law, even for something not very serious, you should get legal advice immediately—especially before going to court and pleading guilty to breaking the law.

The lawyer will need to know the exact date the suspended sentence was ordered and how long the operational period is. If you don’t know, you can ask the court where you were sentenced to tell you.

Jail

You can be sentenced to jail if you are:

• found guilty of a serious offence
• a repeat offender.

You may not end up staying in jail for your entire sentence.

You can get legal advice about how your sentence is calculated, parole and early release from Prisoners’ Legal Service.

You still have rights while you are in jail.

If you are under 17, you will be sent to a youth detention centre.

See Young people and the justice system

Offender levy

The offender levy is a fee people found guilty in Queensland courts must pay.

If you are found guilty of an offence, you will have to pay the offender levy on top of any penalty or sentence you receive.

The court will not consider you will also have to pay an offender levy when deciding what your penalty or sentence will be.

How to get legal advice

We may give legal advice on criminal law matters.

Contact us

Other places to get legal advice:

• Community legal centres
• Private lawyers

Who else can help?

• Organisations directory

Related information

• Being charged with an offence
• Criminal convictions
• Prison
• Offender levy

Last updated

5 March 2026

Last reviewed

19 February 2026