NCJ Number
124798
Journal
Criminal Law Review Dated: (March 1990) Pages: 165-176
Date Published
1990
Length
12 pages
Annotation
A detailed account of the impact of new guidelines on cautioning, issued in the form of Home Office Circular 14/1985, is presented based on a 1988 survey of 43 police forces and interviews with policy makers and cautioning decision makers in ten selected forces.
Abstract
The circular objectives were to promote effective and consistent cautioning practice. In a general sense, the circular achieved one objective in that cautioning rates increased following its issue. The rate for 10 to 13-year-old males increased by four percentage points in 1985 and two percentage points in 1986; the increases for 14 to 16-year-olds were six and four percentage points, respectively. For females, the increases were two percentage points in 1985 and one in 1986 for those 10 to 13 years and seven and two percentage points, respectively, for those 14 to 16 years. The objective of increasing consistency in practice between police force areas was not realized, and variations in cautioning rates between forces narrowed slightly. Analysis of cautioning rates for offenses of shoplifting demonstrated that variations in cautioning rates related more to differences in policy and practice than differences in crime pattern. The largest single change resulting from the circular was that forces were encouraged to develop multi-tiered, pre-court decision making. The tiers include informal warnings and no further action decisions, instant cautions, deferred cautions both with and without consultation, and "caution plus." Additionally, variations exists within and between forces in the number of tiers used and in the way they are used. 2 tables, 7 references.