An ACD violation in New York means you broke one of the conditions the court set when it adjourned your case in contemplation of dismissal, and the consequence is that the prosecution can ask the judge to restore your original criminal case to the calendar. Under Criminal Procedure Law 170.55, the prosecution has six months from the date of the ACD order to make that motion, or one year in family offense cases. Miss that window and the dismissal becomes permanent. File within it, and your case can be brought back to life.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal
What Counts as a Violation
The core condition of every ACD is simple: stay out of trouble. A new arrest during the adjournment period is the most common trigger. The severity of the new charge is not the test. Any arrest gives the prosecution a basis to argue that dismissing your original case would no longer serve the interests of justice.
Beyond a new arrest, the judge can attach specific conditions to your ACD, and failing any of them can count as a violation. Common ones include a set number of community service hours, participation in an educational or alcohol awareness program, mediation and compliance with any resulting settlement, and the terms of a temporary order of protection where there is a complainant.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal
Courts don’t draw a sharp line between serious and minor failures. A missed community service deadline, an unexcused absence from a required program, or failing to produce proof of completion can all put your case at risk. Missing a check-in matters. Blowing off paperwork matters. The question is not how bad the slip was in isolation; it is whether, taken together with everything else, dismissal still makes sense.
The Prosecution’s Deadline to Act
The prosecution cannot wait indefinitely. CPL 170.55 gives them six months from the ACD order to move to restore your case, extended to one year for family offenses. If no motion is filed in that window, the dismissal happens automatically at the end of the adjournment period, and the case cannot be brought back afterward.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal
This cutoff is strict. An arrest on the last day of month five still gives the prosecution time to file. An arrest the day after month six closes the door. If the deadline passes without a motion, nothing that happens afterward can undo your dismissal.
What the Judge Weighs Before Restoring the Case
Even when the prosecution files on time, restoration is not automatic. The judge has to decide that dismissal “would not be in the furtherance of justice.” The factors come from CPL 170.40 and include the seriousness of the original offense and the harm it caused, the strength of the evidence against you, your personal history and character, any serious misconduct by law enforcement, the impact dismissal would have on public safety and confidence in the justice system, the victim’s attitude toward dismissal, and whether a conviction would serve any useful purpose.2New York State Senate. New York Code CPL 170.40 – Dismissal of Information, Simplified Information, Prosecutor’s Information or Misdemeanor Complaint in Furtherance of Justice
In practice, a new arrest during the ACD period is the strongest ground the prosecution has. But the judge keeps discretion. A very minor new arrest, paired with full compliance on every other condition, can still lead the court to leave the ACD in place. The outcome is not predetermined in either direction.
How the Violation Hearing Works
Once the prosecution files its motion to restore, the court sets a hearing. The prosecution presents whatever triggered the motion: a new arrest record, a report from a program showing you did not attend, documentation that a condition was missed. Through your attorney, you can offer explanations, submit your own records, or challenge the accuracy of what the prosecution puts forward.
The judge is not deciding guilt on the original charge at this stage. The only question is whether dismissal still serves the interests of justice given what happened during the adjournment period. If the answer is no, the case is restored to the calendar and proceeds as though the ACD had never been granted.
Because the underlying case was never resolved on the merits, you keep your right to counsel throughout the hearing and anything that follows. If you cannot afford a private attorney, the court will assign a public defender for the restored proceedings.
Consequences If the Case Is Restored
When the court grants the motion, your original charges return to active status. The case picks up where it stopped. From there it follows the normal track for any criminal matter: the prosecution can move toward trial, or the two sides can negotiate a plea.1New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 170.55 – Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal
A conviction on those restored charges carries everything the ACD was designed to prevent. A criminal record. Potential fines, probation, or jail depending on the offense. The practical consequences of a record on employment, housing, and licensing.
Your negotiating position also weakens. The prosecution extended an ACD once and, from their vantage point, you did not hold up your side. A second favorable offer is harder to get. Plea discussions after a restored ACD often start from a less generous baseline than the one you walked away from.
What You Lose Compared to Successful Completion
The contrast with a clean completion is sharp. Finish the adjournment period without a violation and CPL 160.50 requires that the records of the arrest and prosecution be sealed, because an ACD dismissal counts as a termination in favor of the accused. Court records, police files, and Division of Criminal Justice Services records are sealed automatically, without a separate motion from you. Fingerprints, photographs, and palmprints are either destroyed or returned at the court’s discretion.3New York State Senate. New York Code CPL 160.50 – Order Upon Termination of Criminal Action in Favor of the Accused
Sealing is not expungement. Some agencies retain local records of the arrest, and certain entities with statutory access (law enforcement agencies, licensing boards) can still see sealed records in limited circumstances. Still, for most purposes, a completed ACD leaves no visible mark. A restored and convicted case leaves a conviction. That is the gap a violation opens up.
If You Are Not a U.S. Citizen
One warning sits outside the usual mechanics of violation and restoration, and it affects what you should do right now. Federal immigration authorities apply their own definition of “conviction” under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(48)(A): a conviction exists if you entered a guilty plea, a no-contest plea, or admitted enough facts to support a finding of guilt, and the court ordered some form of punishment or restraint on your liberty.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1101 – Definitions
A standard CPL 170.55 ACD does not require a guilty plea, which is part of its value. But if the court record shows you admitted facts underlying the charge, or if conditions on the ACD can be characterized as a penalty, immigration authorities may argue the test is met. USCIS policy guidance notes that a pretrial diversion where “no admission or finding of guilt is required” may not count as a conviction for immigration purposes. The word doing the work there is “may.”5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjudicative Factors
If you are not a citizen and you are facing a possible violation, or weighing whether to accept an ACD in the first place, talk to an immigration attorney alongside your criminal defense lawyer. A restoration followed by a plea or conviction can change your immigration standing in ways the criminal court is not tracking.