Cautions - Justice On The Cheap?

[Terse]

LINK

 

...almost 40,000 cases of assault were dealt with by cautions in England and Wales last year.

 

In England and Wales, half of all criminal cases are now punished out of court by way of cautions, warnings and fines.

 

739 people charged with grievous bodily harm were given cautions in England and Wales in 2008.

 

Cases of burglary, child neglect, sexual assault and even rape were also dealt with by caution last year.

 

Mr Straw told the BBC's World at One that he and Home Secretary Alan Johnson had some concerns about the matter.

 

[but] it was "absolutely not the case" they were being handed out as means of keeping prison numbers down.

[Cronky]

Another warped UK policy falls apart.

 

At least the Isle of Man is ahead of the game on law and order and still uses the courts.

[Albert Tatlock]

Another warped UK policy falls apart.

 

At least the Isle of Man is ahead of the game on law and order and still uses the courts.

Have you not read the legislation that is currently going through 'consultation' on the island?

 

I suggest you listen to the last 'Sunday Opinion' and 'Mannin Line' on the MR 'listen again' facility sometime this week - before it dissapears, along with many civil liberties if it all goes through.

[Vulgarian]

In principle the idea of cautioning people for minor offences instead of going through a protracted and costly court procedure is a good idea. It ought to save court time, tax payers' money, and keep the prison population down.

 

Unfortunately, as with much other legistlation, this system is open to abuse and it seems inevitable that in some cases cautions will have been issued where a matter really ought to have been given more attention

 

On the Isle of Man we have not taken up this idea because if we were simply to caution people for petty drug offences, drunken behavior, fighting, and pissing in the street, there would be nothing left for Moyle and his chums to do.

[Albert Tatlock]

On the Isle of Man we have not taken up this idea because if we were simply to caution people for petty drug offences, drunken behavior, fighting, and pissing in the street, there would be nothing left for Moyle and his chums to do.

Well, only until the latest criminal justice bill (3.2Mb), currently going through 'consultation' goes through - if it does.

 

It's all been overshadowed by the VAT debacle, but is happening.

 

Affects 26 pieces of existing legislation - changes in a wide variety of areas - including enpowering the police to do some of just what you are saying we have not taken up - giving out tickets for all sorts of things.

[Cronky]

Crikey Albert, you beat me to it. I have just put the search term 'caution' into the link you posted it came up with this:

 

Conditional cautions

1.7 Clause 53 (pages 179 to 184) empowers the police to impose conditions (for example

attendance on an anger management course, reparation etc) on the administration of a

caution by an officer. Cautions are currently used as a means of disposal for offenders at

the lower end of the scale where it is thought the offender will react positively. The

imposition of a condition or conditions will reinforce the effectiveness of the caution. It

should be noted a person has to agree to accept a caution and agree to any conditions.

 

But did you see Panorama last night??? Cautions and fixed penalties in England and Wales have been a complete disaster.

I thought the whole idea of the Isle of Man was that we can look at that's happening in the UK and avoid the pitfalls.

 

Link to Panorama:

 

Do cautions 'deny victims justice'?

 

If you commit a crime and get caught it is reasonable to think that you will go to court, be prosecuted and pay the price for your actions. Not necessarily. In fact, in England and Wales half of all criminal cases brought to justice these days are punished out of court by way of cautions, warnings and fines. These direct measures are supposed to be fast and fair.

It is all part of a government drive to cut costs and bureaucracy and to unclog the courts system of minor offences like anti-social behaviour. Cautions are formal warnings, issued at the discretion of the police if the offender admits his guilt.

 

This could be a long thread