Responding to today’s announcement on the consultation on a new code of practice for cautions, Tom Franklin, the Chief Executive of the Magistrates’ Association said:
“We welcome proposals to end the current postcode lottery for out of court disposals (OOCDs). Though OOCDs can be a useful tool they must be administered with consistency and appropriate scrutiny. We published a report last December on OOCDs, which revealed that this is not currently the case.
“We are pleased that this announcement incorporates recommendations made in our report, such as excluding certain offences like knife crime from being eligible for OOCDs and ensuring appropriate oversight through scrutiny panels.
“We will respond to the consultation in full, reflecting the views of our members and our research in our response.”
