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DPP: It's time to stop giving cautions to violent offenders
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor9 Nov 2009
Pressure was growing on the Government to restrict the use of cautions to deal with thousands of serious offences today as the country's chief prosecutor urged a review of out-of-court justice.
Keir Starmer, QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, today said he was concerned that some violent offenders were being let off with a police caution and that such warnings were also being issued wrongly for other crimes.
His comments follow cases in which cautions have been issued for rape and an assault in which a man smashed a beer glass into a pub landlady's face.
They also come only hours after Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson expressed his dismay that too many people guilty of "theft and thuggery" were being kept out of the courts.
Mr Starmer said he believed that no crime beyond common assault should be punished "out of court".
He also called for a new system to be set up to ensure a consistent approach to ensure that fixed penalty notices, cautions and conditional cautions were used appropriately in trivial cases.
He added: "There is now a case to be made for a review. My view is that there should be a structured tiered approach which specifies what case will be dealt with at what level."
Mr Starmer has now issued guidelines to prosecutors insisting that all violent offences beyond common assault should go before the courts.
His comments are likely to cause some anger in police ranks. A recent report by HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary said prosecutors were often responsible for downgrading offences and forcing less serious action to be taken against offenders.
Similar concerns were echoed yesterday by the Met Commissioner. Sir Paul said: "I think we have to look again at the number of times we do cautions and we have to look again at fixed-penalty tickets."
He blamed Government pressure to reduce the burden on the courts and prisons by making more use of cautions and fixed penalties, but warned that the result was "an almost uncontrollable increase in cautions and the fixed-penalty ticket, which in the public's mind equates to a parking ticket, which should not be [the case] with theft and thuggery."
Judge Keith Cutler, a senior member of the Council of Circuit Judges, also called for a review. He said: "It is only a matter of time where we will have a domestic murder and we will find on the offender's antecedent sheet that they were cautioned for an earlier assault on the murder victim. It is getting that serious."
Reader views (3)
Which party had a slogan "Tough on crime, tough on the
causes of crime" ? It couldn't be the traitorous,
lying, despicable rabble we have wrecking this country
could it?
- Lb, Bromley, 10/11/2009 02:13
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Cautions are just an easy way out for lazy police officers and CPS staff who can`t be bothered with doing the job properly. I notice there is a parallel story running about the rising cost of investigations. The costs are rising because people are being paid more and more and the putting together of a prosecution file has got so barmy. It used to be one page of facts, the bundle of witness statements, charge sheet and any previous plus tics. A quick appearance at court the next day - job done. Now its everything plus the kitchen sink and more. The use of cautions should only be used for minor offences involving junveniles and the elderly. When I was in the police I used to authorise a caution say if someone had stolen food from a supermarket to feed the kids; but no way would anyone have got a caution authorised by me for assault. Too often nowadays the police are judge and jury and that is not their role in the scheme of things. Our justice system has become a non entity and the police lazy. The police are not social workers and it should not be in their gift to decide the punishment for someone who has committed a serious crime. That should be left for the courts, if not what is the reason for their continued existence?
- Brian G, Norfolk Gorleston, 09/11/2009 14:55
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Has this man been in a coma for the last few years?
The giving of cautions to violent offenders should have beeb stopped years ago.
Now we have an understandable lack of public confidence in reporting crime.
A criminal element who is laughing at the law.
More and more people being attacked by IDENTIFIED VIOLENT OFFENDERS who have been cautioned, NOT prsecuted.
Children who have been further violated and sometimes killed by their IDENTIFIED abusers who have NOT been prosecuted but have instead been cautioned and 'treated' with out of court 'measures'
The list of the failures to STOP IDENTIFIED VIOLENT OFFENDERS from doing what they do because they are getting off with CAUTIONS, is never ending.
This government's policy on the way VIOLENT offenders are being treated is responsible for the beakdown of law and order in this country !
- Darnthesafetynet, London W11 1NR, 09/11/2009 12:10
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