NCJ Number
146417
Journal
Criminal Law Review Dated: (1993) Pages: 572-578
Date Published
1993
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This report examines the differences in the rates of cautioning of juveniles and young adults in the British criminal justice system.
Abstract
Cautioning of juveniles offenders, a practice used in the British criminal justice system to divert juvenile offenders from prosecution, has been used with much success. This has led to attempts to extend the use of cautioning to young adults as well. Two pilot diversion programs for young adults, however, had limited success in increasing cautioning rates. This article takes data from an earlier study of those programs to examine differences between juvenile and young adult cautioning rates and between cautioning rates for different police forces. Cautioning rates were lower for young adults than for juveniles and rates for both age groups varies between and within police agencies. In searching for explanations for these differences, the author considered the effect of the proportion of first offenders in each group, admissions and denials by offenders, types of offence, and the race or ethnicity of offenders. The decisionmaking systems of the police forces involved in this study were also examined.