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. Accepting a caution requires an admission of guilt.
Purpose
A police caution (since 2005 more properly known as a simple caution) 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.
The aims of the formal police caution are: 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.
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, and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks (previously called Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks) for certain types of employment. A caution can cause some countries not to allow a person to visit or reside in the country.
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. 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.
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.
On 13 April 2015, the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 implemented restrictions on the use of cautions by the police:
for indictable offences, they may be used only in exceptional circumstances, and then only with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions; for specified either-way offences, 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 may determine where exceptional circumstances and similar offences exist.