Musings and Snippets from a recently retired JP. I served for 31 years, mostly in west London. I was Chairman of my Bench for some years, and a member of the National Bench Chairmen's Forum All cases are based on real ones, but anonymised and composited. All opinions are those of one or more individuals. JPs swear to enforce the law of the land, whether or not they approve of it. Nothing on here constitutes legal advice.
Saturday, November 08, 2014
Worth a Look
This Post from a respected blogger is worth a read. Give it a go.(link corrected - it's the piece about cautions) . Thanks to spotters.
It looks like they are formalising an old fashioned, "I'll let you off this time but next time you're in big trouble." Not necessarily a bad thing, especially since policing is so impersonal these days and the attending officer often won't know the person of interest.
It's not clear if either of the two new "disposals" requires an admission of guilt like a caution does. A "suspended prosecution" sounds like no. Personally I'd want any letter of apology I was required to write drafted by a lawyer to avoid any such admission. I hope the semi-literate scrotes who suffer these sanctions are careful with their phraseology or they could be making nooses for their own necks.
Most prospective employers today ask about arrests, cautions and convictions. If there is a new form of caution that does not appear on the criminal record, then does that encourage non-disclosure, and is that an offence in itself ?
I think the intent may be not to blight a person's future prospects by giving them a criminal record. Restitution could satisfy all parties while keeping the perp employable. Giving someone no future options but a life of crime is really in no one's interest.
Posts are pre-moderated. Please bear with us if this takes a little time, but the number of bores and obsessives was getting out of hand, as were the fake comments advertising rubbish.
It looks like they are formalising an old fashioned, "I'll let you off this time but next time you're in big trouble." Not necessarily a bad thing, especially since policing is so impersonal these days and the attending officer often won't know the person of interest.
ReplyDeleteIt's not clear if either of the two new "disposals" requires an admission of guilt like a caution does. A "suspended prosecution" sounds like no. Personally I'd want any letter of apology I was required to write drafted by a lawyer to avoid any such admission. I hope the semi-literate scrotes who suffer these sanctions are careful with their phraseology or they could be making nooses for their own necks.
Most prospective employers today ask about arrests, cautions and convictions. If there is a new form of caution that does not appear on the criminal record, then does that encourage non-disclosure, and is that an offence in itself ?
ReplyDeleteI think the intent may be not to blight a person's future prospects by giving them a criminal record. Restitution could satisfy all parties while keeping the perp employable. Giving someone no future options but a life of crime is really in no one's interest.
DeleteNot sure I've ever been described as "respected" before but many thanks for the mention.
ReplyDeleteThe link that will be correct past DB's next post is this: http://defencebrief.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/police-cautions-to-be-scraped.html
ReplyDelete