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Young Offenders: Essex

Answer

Information on the number of offenders aged 10 to 15 who were given final warning and reprimands for all offences in Essex police force area for the years 2001 to 2005 are given in the table. From June 2000, cautions for offenders under 18 years old were replaced by reprimands and final warnings. Data for 2006 will be available in late November of 2007.Cautions data are only collected by the Ministry of Justice by police force area. Information held centrally does not allow a breakdown of cases by individual police services area within Essex nor can data be provided for the number of cautions issued in Southend.If a caution has been received previously for any offence then a further simple caution should not be considered unless the current offence is trivial or unrelated to previous offences, or at least two years have passed indicating that the previous caution has had a significant deterrent effect. To help police officers exercise their discretion, guidance from the Home Office requires the police to check nationally and locally held records before administering a simple caution.A simple caution is a non-statutory disposal which allows the police to deal quickly and simply with less serious offences, to divert offenders where appropriate from appearing in criminal courts and to reduce the likelihood of re-offending. Whether to caution an offender for a criminal offence is an operational matter for the police, and, in the case of indictable-only offences, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The police must consider whether a simple caution is appropriate to the offence and the offender, and whether it is likely to be effective in the circumstances.

The number of offenders aged 10 to 15 years-old who were given final warnings or reprimands for all offences in Essex police force area for the years 2001 to 2005¹, ², ³
	Age
	10	11	12	13	14	15	Total
2001	42	85	178	325	456	496	1,582
2002	31	62	154	321	374	393	1,335
2003	30	60	152	259	383	384	1,268
2004	35	77	185	312	423	504	1,536
2005	87	133	273	511	772	722	2,498
¹ These data are on the principal offence basis. ² Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. ³ From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and final warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. Source: Court proceedings database held by RDS - OCJR, Ministry of Justice

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

165741; 469 c1239-40W

Session

2007-08

Subjects

Essex Young offenders

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk