diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/gc/shared/referenceProcessor.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/gc/shared/referenceProcessor.cpp
index e5fbc4df3ea3..bf464c56204a 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/gc/shared/referenceProcessor.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/gc/shared/referenceProcessor.cpp
@@ -1054,15 +1054,6 @@ bool ReferenceProcessor::discover_reference(oop obj, ReferenceType rt) {
   return true;
 }
 
-bool ReferenceProcessor::has_discovered_references() {
-  for (uint i = 0; i < _max_num_queues * number_of_subclasses_of_ref(); i++) {
-    if (!_discovered_refs[i].is_empty()) {
-      return true;
-    }
-  }
-  return false;
-}
-
 void ReferenceProcessor::preclean_discovered_references(BoolObjectClosure* is_alive,
                                                         EnqueueDiscoveredFieldClosure* enqueue,
                                                         YieldClosure* yield,
diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/gc/shared/referenceProcessor.hpp b/src/hotspot/share/gc/shared/referenceProcessor.hpp
index 120a7afe2cf1..a8ea98683e87 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/gc/shared/referenceProcessor.hpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/gc/shared/referenceProcessor.hpp
@@ -421,9 +421,6 @@ class ReferenceProcessor : public ReferenceDiscoverer {
   // Discover a Reference object, using appropriate discovery criteria
   virtual bool discover_reference(oop obj, ReferenceType rt);
 
-  // Has discovered references that need handling
-  bool has_discovered_references();
-
   // Process references found during GC (called by the garbage collector)
   ReferenceProcessorStats
   process_discovered_references(RefProcProxyTask& proxy_task,