Admonition is a punishment under Scots law

Scots law

Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is considered a hybrid or mixed legal system as it traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. With English law and Northern Irish law it forms the legal system of the United Kingdom; it shares with the two other systems some...

 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 can be compared to an absolute discharge

Conditional discharge

A discharge is a type of sentence where no punishment is imposed. An absolute discharge is unconditional: the defendant is not punished, and the case is over. In some jurisdictions, an absolute discharge means there is no conviction despite a finding that the defendant is guilty...

where a conviction is not recorded.

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.