An ACD in court is an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal, a New York criminal procedure that pauses your case for a set period and then automatically dismisses the charges if you stay out of trouble. It is governed by Criminal Procedure Law Section 170.55, and the point of it is this: you never plead guilty, there is no trial, and when the clock runs out the case is dismissed in the furtherance of justice.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal For someone facing a first-time minor charge, it is the best realistic outcome short of an outright dismissal.
How the ACD Process Works
An ACD can be proposed any time after arraignment, but only before you enter a guilty plea or the case goes to trial. The prosecution, the defense, or the judge can suggest it, but both sides have to agree.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal In practice, prosecutors often float an ACD at arraignment, and your attorney advises whether to accept it.
Once the court grants it, the case is adjourned “without date.” No future court appearance is set. You are released on your own recognizance. The standard adjournment period is six months. For family offenses, it stretches to one year.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal During that window the prosecution can ask the court to restore the case to the calendar if they believe dismissal would not serve justice. If they don’t, the charges are dismissed automatically when the period expires. You don’t have to go back to court for that to happen, and you don’t have to file anything.
Who Qualifies for an ACD
ACDs are available for cases charged by information, simplified information, prosecutor’s information, or misdemeanor complaint. That means misdemeanors and violations. Not felonies.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal Common charges that lead to ACDs include petit larceny, minor drug possession, disorderly conduct, trespassing, and low-level assault.
Because the prosecution has to consent, your criminal history matters a lot. A clean record dramatically improves your chances. Prosecutors weigh how serious the alleged conduct was, whether there is a victim who objects, and whether you look likely to stay out of trouble. Showing employment, community ties, or voluntary steps like counseling enrollment can push a reluctant prosecutor toward yes.
Conditions You May Have to Meet
The court can attach conditions to an ACD, and what you’ll be asked to do depends on the charge. The one universal expectation is that you don’t pick up new criminal charges during the adjournment period. Beyond that, the statute gives judges room:
- Community service for a nonprofit or public agency, if you consent to the amount and terms. It cannot exceed the length of the adjournment period.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal
- Dispute resolution or mediation if the case grew out of a conflict between individuals, with a requirement to comply with any resulting agreement.
- A domestic violence education program for charges involving family or household members.
- An alcohol awareness program, if you are under 21 and alcohol contributed to the offense.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal
- A temporary order of protection requiring you to stay away from or avoid contact with a victim for the length of the ACD.
Unlike probation, an ACD generally does not involve regular check-ins with a supervising officer or ongoing court monitoring. The court usually looks at your compliance only if the prosecution moves to put the case back on the calendar.
What Happens When the Period Ends
If the prosecution never moves to restore the case within the six-month or one-year window, the charges are dismissed in the furtherance of justice. The dismissal triggers automatic record sealing under Criminal Procedure Law Section 160.50. Once sealing takes effect, the court clerk notifies the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the relevant police departments. Fingerprints, photographs, and palmprints tied to the arrest are destroyed or returned to you. Court papers and judgments are sealed and made unavailable to the public.2New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 160-50 – Order Upon Termination of Criminal Action in Favor of the Accused
Sealed is not the same as erased. Certain parties can still see sealed records, including a parole or probation officer if you are later arrested on another matter, law enforcement agencies acting under a court order, and employers hiring for positions that require carrying a firearm.3NY CourtHelp. Sealed Criminal Records For most everyday purposes, though, the case becomes invisible, and a properly sealed ACD dismissal should not surface on a standard employment background check.
What Happens If You Violate the Conditions
If you get rearrested or fail to complete a required program during the ACD period, the prosecution can ask the court to put the case back on the calendar. The court will grant that request if it decides dismissal would not serve the interests of justice.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal Once restored, the case picks up where it left off. You face the original charges as if the ACD never happened, and any plea offer on the table afterward is often less generous than the one you had before.
Judges do have some flexibility. If you can show genuine hardship behind the noncompliance, like a medical emergency or a real misunderstanding of program requirements, a court may decline to restore the case. Those arguments land better when the violation is technical rather than a new arrest.
How an ACD Differs From a Guilty Plea
The defining feature of an ACD is that you never plead guilty. A plea bargain requires an admission to some charge, even a reduced one, and that admission creates a conviction with everything that follows: potential immigration consequences, licensing complications, and a permanent record. An ACD avoids all of that.
A conditional discharge, another common New York disposition, also requires a guilty plea. The court imposes conditions instead of jail, and if you comply, you avoid incarceration. But the conviction stays. With a conditional discharge, you have a criminal record. With an ACD, you do not.
Marijuana-Specific ACDs
New York has a separate ACD provision for certain marijuana-related charges under Criminal Procedure Law Section 170.56. The key difference is that you can request this ACD on your own motion, without the prosecution’s agreement.4New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.56 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal in Cases Involving Marihuana
Eligibility is narrower. You cannot get a marijuana ACD if you have already received one under this section or if you have a prior controlled substance conviction, and certain prior criminal history requires the prosecutor’s consent. The maximum adjournment is twelve months, and the court can set conditions including supervision by a public or private agency. The statute also includes an exceptional-circumstances exception: a judge can grant the ACD even where the normal eligibility bars apply, and one recognized exceptional circumstance is that a guilty plea would carry severe collateral consequences such as deportation.4New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.56 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal in Cases Involving Marihuana If the court finds a violation, it can revoke the order and restore the case.
Immigration, Employment, and Firearms
For non-citizens, the structure of an ACD matters. Federal immigration law defines a conviction as either a formal judgment of guilt or a situation where guilt has been found or admitted and the judge has imposed some form of punishment.5Legal Information Institute. 8 USC 1101(a)(48) – Definition of Conviction An ACD involves neither a guilty plea nor a finding of guilt, so it doesn’t satisfy either prong. USCIS policy guidance confirms that when a person enters a pretrial diversion program that requires no admission or finding of guilt, the resulting order generally does not count as a conviction for immigration purposes.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part F Chapter 2 – Adjudicative Factors The arrest itself may still need to be disclosed on immigration applications, and USCIS officers can still weigh the underlying conduct in good moral character determinations.
On employment, once your ACD results in dismissal you can truthfully say you were not convicted of a crime. EEOC guidance treats an arrest, by itself, as insufficient to establish criminal conduct, and rejecting an applicant based solely on an arrest record is not considered job-related or consistent with business necessity.7U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act Professional licensing boards are a separate issue. Many ask only about convictions, which a dismissed ACD is not, but some ask more broadly about arrests or pending charges. Read the question your board actually asks before answering.
On firearms, federal law prohibits anyone under indictment for a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment from receiving or transporting a firearm.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 18 Section 922 – Unlawful Acts Because most ACD charges are misdemeanors carrying less than a year of potential imprisonment, that federal restriction often does not apply. If your underlying charge is punishable by more than a year, the restriction can remain in effect for the length of the adjournment, and New York state law may add its own limits. If you own firearms, raise this with your attorney before accepting the offer.