Police caution

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.

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 and who has admitted that they are guilty of a minor crime. You can be arrested and charged if you don't agree.

A police caution as a non-statutory disposal of an offence should not be confused with the caution used for the purpose of advising a suspect of their right to silence.

The aims of the formal police caution are:

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 might cause some countries not to allow visits to, or residence in, that country.

In order to safeguard the offender's interests, the following conditions must be met before a caution can be administered:

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 his 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.

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