Formal alternative to prosecution in minor cases in England and Wales
For the statement of rights read before an arrest, see Right to silence.
A police caution is a formal alternative to prosecution in minor cases, administered by the police in England and Wales. It is commonly used to resolve cases where full prosecution is not seen as the most appropriate solution.[1] Accepting a caution requires an admission of guilt.
A police caution (since 2005 more properly known as a simple caution)[2] is a formal warning given by the police to anyone aged 10 years or over who has admitted that they are guilty of a minor crime. A person may refuse to admit guilt and not accept a caution, but can then be subject to criminal prosecution.
A police caution as a non-statutory disposal of an offence is quite different from the caution used for the purpose of advising a suspect of their right to silence.[3]
to offer a proportionate response to low-level offending where the offender has admitted the offence;
to deliver swift, simple and effective justice that carries a deterrent effect;
to record an individual's criminal conduct for possible reference in future criminal proceedings or in criminal record or other similar checks;
to reduce the likelihood of re-offending;
to increase the amount of time officers spend dealing with more serious crime and reduce the amount of time police officers spend completing paperwork and attending court, whilst simultaneously reducing the burden on the courts.
Types of cautions
As a result of changes made by the Criminal Justice Act 2003, cautions can be administered in two forms: as a simple caution or as a conditional caution, the latter of which has specific conditions attached that the offender must satisfy—attending a course aimed at targeting offending behaviour, for example. The Home Office has released guidance to the police and prosecutors on the use of the simple caution.[6][7]
Although a caution is not a conviction, it forms a part of a person's criminal record and can be used as evidence of bad character if a person is prosecuted for another crime,[4][8] and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks (previously called Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks) for certain types of employment.[2] A caution can cause some countries not to allow a person to visit or reside in the country.[2]
Circumstances for use
In order to safeguard the offender's interests, the following conditions must be met before a caution can be administered:
there must be reasonable suspicion to believe an offence has been committed
the offender must admit that they are guilty of the offence
the offender must understand the significance of a caution and give informed consent to being cautioned.
Where the available evidence does not meet the standard normally required to bring a prosecution, a caution cannot be administered. A caution will not be appropriate where a person does not make a clear and reliable admission of the offence (for example if intent is denied or there are doubts about their mental health or intellectual capacity).
Cautions are typically administered in the case of an offence that is triable summarily or either-way.[9] The Ministry of Justice recommends that the decision to offer a simple caution for the most serious of offences (an indictable only offence, an either-way offence routinely dealt with at the Crown Court or any offence which the sentencing guidelines indicate has a starting point at high level community order or sentence of imprisonment) is taken only in exceptional circumstances.[4]
People aged 17 or under may receive a youth caution where the following conditions are met:
there must be evidence that the offender has committed an offence;
the quality of the evidence must be sufficient to give a realistic prospect of conviction;
the offender must admit the offence;
the offender must have no previous convictions;
a prosecution of the offence would not be in the public interest.
for specified either-way offences,[12] only "in exceptional circumstances relating to the person or the offence;"
for summary offences and all other either-way offences, where a person has been convicted or cautioned in the previous two years for a similar offence, only "in exceptional circumstances relating to the person, the offence admitted or the previous offence;" and
only a police officer at or above a minimum rank specified by order[13] may determine where exceptional circumstances and similar offences exist.
Administration
There is no statutory basis for the formal caution, it is a discretionary procedure adopted by the police under Home Office guidance.[2]
Only the police have the power to administer a caution. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does, however, have a role to play in helping the police to ensure that the Ministry of Justice guidelines contained within the Guidance are applied consistently and fairly.[14]
CPS officers are instructed to refer to the police any case in which they consider a caution is the appropriate way of handling the offence. Where the CPS remains satisfied that a caution is appropriate but the police refuse to administer one, the CPS guidance recommends that the case is not accepted for the prosecution.
Duration
Per the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, simple cautions, reprimands and final warnings become spent (meaning that they do not need to be disclosed, unless applying for particular types of work) immediately, and conditional cautions become spent after 3 months.[15]
Cautions will appear on a DBS certificate until 6 years have passed (or 2 years if the person was under 18 at the time of caution) provided the offence is not on the prescribed list of offences that will never be filtered from a criminal record check.[16]
All information relating to simple cautions (as well as convictions) issued for a recordable offence is retained on the Police National Computer (PNC). Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) guidelines set out how long this information will be retained for. The information is kept for police operational reasons and in the interest of prevention and detection of crime.[4]
History
It is likely the practice of using police cautions began early in the nineteenth century. In the 1920s written warnings started being given for motoring offences. In 1928 the Home Office published statistics on cautions, and by 1931 was giving advice on the wording of cautions.[2]
In 1959 the Street Offences Act made a provision for removing cautions from criminal records. In 1962 Royal Commission on the Police noted concerns about the uneven enforcement of cautions. In 1978 the Home Office issued its first circular to bring about consistency in the use of cautions for juveniles, and in 1985 for adults.[2]
From 1995 cautions were recorded on the Police National Computer, and it was recommended that cautions should be retained for 5 years, though each police force could follow its own guidelines. The 1997 Police Act made provision for disclosing cautions to employers of those who might have unsupervised contact with children.[2]
By the early 2000s police forces were given targets for the number of offences brought to justice. As giving a caution was a way of bringing an offence to justice more easily than going to court, in some policing areas the number of cautions given increased to about 30% of all offences brought to justice.[2]
In 2006 new guidelines were issued for the retention of records until the subject reached 100 years of age, but after 5 or 10 years, depending on the severity of the offence, they would be used only for DBS checks.[2]
In 2008 a Home Office circular made clear suspects must receive a written explanation of the implications before accepting a caution, to meet the informed consent obligation, and provided a new form to be signed by the offender which explained in considerable detail the consequences.[2]
Community Resolutions
From about 2008, a less stringent resolution of low-level offences has often been used by police forces in England and Wales instead of a caution. This is usually called a 'Community Resolution' (CR) and requires less police time as offenders are not arrested or prosecuted as such. A community resolution does not require any formal record, but the offender should admit the offence and the victim should be happy with this method of informal resolution.
A CR has specific criteria that must be fulfilled before it can be utilized as a disposal method for an offence. Guidance by National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) (at the time ACPO) lays out such criteria e.g. the victim agreeing to the CR being used, the offender accepting responsibility for it, only used on low level offences, not already on bail, etc.[17]
A CR is not a formal conviction as such, a CR may be disclosed on an enhanced CRB check by the Disclosure & Barring Service in the future.[17]
Concerns have been expressed over the use of community resolution for violent offences, in particular domestic violence.[18]Cheshire Constabulary, Durham Police & Nottinghamshire Police were criticised for using CRs to deal with offences of the rape of girls under 13 and Merseyside Police were similarly criticised for giving a CR to an offender for the rape of a girl under 16.[19][20]
Restorative Justice
Restorative Justice (RJ) is an addition to a Community Resolution that allows the offender to take steps to make right the offence in question, often with a controlled meeting with the offender and victim and a discussion taking place regarding the crime.[21][22]
↑ A police caution administered to a suspect upon arrest or prior to questioning them about their involvement in a suspected offence may be phrased as: "You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."
↑ Guidance to Police Officers and Crown Prosecutors Issued by the Director of Public ProsecutionsArchived 2006-02-08 at the Wayback Machine , section 9.1 "Where the police consider that the Threshold Test is met in a case, other than an indictable only offence, and determine that it is in the public interest instead to administer a simple caution, or to administer a reprimand or final warning in the case of a youth, the police may issue that caution, reprimand or final warning as appropriate, without referring the case to a Crown Prosecutor."
An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody, usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questioned further and/or charged. An arrest is a procedure in a criminal justice system, sometimes it is also done after a court warrant for the arrest.
A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a private citizen – that is, a person who is not acting as a sworn law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval England and the English common law, in which sheriffs encouraged ordinary citizens to help apprehend law breakers.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
A criminal record is a record of a person's criminal convictions history. The information included in a criminal record and the existence of a criminal record varies between countries and even between jurisdictions within a country. In most cases it lists all non-expunged criminal offences and may also include traffic offences such as speeding and drunk driving. In most countries a criminal record is limited to unexpunged and unexpired actual convictions, while in some it can also include arrests, charges dismissed, charges pending and charges of which the individual has been acquitted. The term rap sheet refers to Record of Arrest and Prosecution, similar to a criminal record.
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial against the defendant, an individual accused of breaking the law. Typically, the prosecutor represents the state or the government in the case brought against the accused person.
In England and Wales, a youth offending team (YOT) is a multi-agency team that is coordinated by a local authority and overseen by the Youth Justice Board. It deals with young offenders, sets up community services and reparation plans, and attempts to prevent youth recidivism and incarceration. YOTs were set up following the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 with the intention of reducing the risk of young people offending and re-offending, and to provide counsel and rehabilitation to those who do offend. Youth offending teams engage in a wide variety of work with young offenders in order to achieve their aims. YOTs supervise young people who have been ordered by the court to serve sentences in the community or in the secure estate. Sometimes, teams organise meetings between offenders and victims to encourage apologies and reparation.
In England and Wales, a magistrates' court is a lower court which hears matters relating to summary offences and some triable either-way matters. Some civil law issues are also decided here, notably family proceedings. In 2010, there were 320 magistrates' courts in England and Wales; by 2020, a decade later, 164 of those had closed. The jurisdiction of magistrates' courts and rules governing them are set out in the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980.
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is a non-departmental public body of the Home Office of the United Kingdom. The DBS enables organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain work, especially involving children or vulnerable adults, and provides wider access to criminal record information through its disclosure service for England and Wales.
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm is a statutory offence of aggravated assault in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Hong Kong and the Solomon Islands. It has been abolished in the Republic of Ireland and in South Australia, but replaced with a similar offence.
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 of the UK Parliament enables some criminal convictions to be ignored after a rehabilitation period. Its purpose is that people do not have a lifelong blot on their records because of a relatively minor offence in their past. The rehabilitation period is automatically determined by the sentence. After this period, if there has been no further conviction the conviction is "spent" and, with certain exceptions, need not be disclosed by the ex-offender in any context such as when applying for a job, obtaining insurance, or in civil proceedings. A conviction for the purposes of the ROA includes a conviction issued outside Great Britain and therefore foreign convictions are eligible to receive the protection of the ROA.
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is a wide-ranging measure introduced to modernise many areas of the criminal justice system in England and Wales and, to a lesser extent, in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Large portions of the act were repealed and replaced by the Sentencing Act 2020.
Self-defence is a defence permitting reasonable force to be used to defend one's self or another. This defence arises both from common law and the Criminal Law Act 1967. Self-defence is a justification defence rather than an excuse.
Harassment, alarm or distress is an element of a statutory offence in England and Wales, arising from an expression used in sections 4A and 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which created the offence. The Act was amended in 1994.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that seeks to broaden the law on corporate manslaughter in the United Kingdom. The Act created a new offence respectively named corporate manslaughter in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and corporate homicide in Scotland.
The youth justice system in England and Wales comprises the organs and processes that are used to prosecute, convict and punish persons under 18 years of age who commit criminal offences. The principal aim of the youth justice system is to prevent offending by children and young persons.
The powers of the police in England and Wales are defined largely by statute law, with the main sources of power being the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the Police Act 1996. This article covers the powers of police officers of territorial police forces only, but a police officer in one of the UK's special police forces can utilise extended jurisdiction powers outside of their normal jurisdiction in certain defined situations as set out in statute. In law, police powers are given to constables. All police officers in England and Wales are "constables" in law whatever their rank. Certain police powers are also available to a limited extent to police community support officers and other non warranted positions such as police civilian investigators or designated detention officers employed by some police forces even though they are not constables.
Rape is a statutory offence in England and Wales. The offence is created by section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003:
(1) A person (A) commits an offence if—
(2) Whether a belief is reasonable is to be determined having regard to all the circumstances, including any steps A has taken to ascertain whether B consents. (3) Sections 75 and 76 apply to an offence under this section.
(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life.
The Code of Criminal Procedure commonly called Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was the main legislation on procedure for administration of substantive criminal law in India. It was enacted in 1973 and came into force on 1 April 1974. It provides the machinery for the investigation of crime, apprehension of suspected criminals, collection of evidence, determination of guilt or innocence of the accused person and the determination of punishment of the guilty. It also deals with public nuisance, prevention of offences and maintenance of wife, child and parents.
Sentencing in England and Wales refers to a bench of magistrates or district judge in a magistrate's court or a judge in the Crown Court passing sentence on a person found guilty of a criminal offence. In deciding the sentence, the court will take into account a number of factors: the type of offence and how serious it is, the timing of any plea of guilty, the defendant's character and antecedents, including their criminal record and the defendant's personal circumstances such as their financial circumstances in the case of a fine being imposed.
The youth justice system in New Zealand consists of organisations and processes that deal with offending by children aged 10–13 years and young people aged 14–16 years. These differ from general criminal processes, and are governed by different principles.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
