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LEGAL ADVICE FOR ACTIVISTS

5. Cautions and Conditional Cautions

Contents

5.1 Cautions
5.2 Conditional Cautions
5.3 Should I accept a caution or a “conditional caution”?

5.1 Cautions

Sometimes the police may offer you a ‘caution’ as an alternative to being charged with an offence. This is to be distinguished from the ‘caution’ they have to give to you prior to questioning advising you of the right to remain silent.

A formal ‘caution’ in this sense is issued by an officer of the rank Inspector or higher if the following conditions are satisfied:

i) The suspect must admit to the offence
ii) There must be enough evidence to prosecute
iii) The suspect must agree to the caution, having been informed that it may be mentioned in court in the case of future offending.

Some police forces have a policy of offering cautions for certain minor offences, where the suspect has no previous convictions. The police keep a record of formal cautions for at least 5 years.

5.2 Conditional Cautions

Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 the CPS now have the power to instruct the police to offer the suspect a “conditional caution”. This will not replace the ordinary caution but is aimed to cover situations where the CPS believe that charges are not necessary but the ordinary caution is inadequate.

There are five requirements that must be satisfied before a conditional caution can be offered as follows:

1. There must be evidence that the suspect has committed an offence.
2. The prosecutor decides that there is enough evidence to charge with the offence and that a conditional caution is appropriate.
3. The suspect admits to the offence.
4. The effect of the caution is explained to the suspect along with the fact that failure to comply with a condition could lead to prosecution for an offence.
5. The offender must sign a document containing the details of the offence, an admission that he committed the offence, consent to the caution being issued and the conditions attached to the caution.

The conditions that may be attached to such a caution must have either or both of the following objectives:

i) ensuring or facilitating the rehabilitation of the offender,
ii) ensuring that he makes reparation for the offence.

If a suspect fails to comply with one of these conditions without reasonable excuse, criminal proceedings may be brought for the offence. The document mentioned in point 5 above is admissible in such proceedings.

The rationale behind the conditional caution seems to be as follows. As things stand the police can either charge you, caution you or let you go. The caution is perceived to be not very effective in preventing further crime, particularly in the case of young offenders. So the new conditional caution will be used when it is deemed that the ordinary caution is insufficient, but that it is not in the public interest for the case to go to court.

The scheme is not yet in force nationally and is currently being piloted in selected areas.

5.3 Should I accept a caution or a “conditional caution”?

In our view, the “conditional caution” should be regarded by activists in the same way as the traditional caution. There are no firm guidelines either way as to whether or not to accept them, but activists need to be aware of the reason why one might be offered.

Often the police will offer a caution when there is not enough evidence to go to trial, but it may also be offered where the likely penalty for the offence is so low that it does not justify the court costs. Accepting a caution is a decision activists will have to make based on the case and their own circumstances. Some people will never accept cautions on principle. Others will accept them even if there is a fair chance that they will get off, simply in order to get the case out of the way. The exact nature of the conditions will be prepared later in a Code of Practice prepared by the secretary of state. They are likely to include such measures as confronting the victims of crime or community service.

A caution does amount to an admission of guilt, and it may be cited in future court proceedings as part of your criminal record.

If you accept either type of caution, the police may take your fingerprints and DNA and keep them indefinitely.

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