(2) how many cautions were issued in West Yorkshire in each of the last five years; for what categories of offences cautions were issued; and whether cautions may be repeated for the same offence.
[holding answer 23 July 2007]: I have been asked to reply.
The number of persons aged 10 to 15 cautioned for all offences in West Yorkshire police force area for the years 2001 to 2005, along with the number of defendants of all ages cautioned by offence type in West Yorkshire police force area, and the number of defendants of all ages cautioned for sexual offences in England and Wales for the years 2001 to 2005 can be viewed in the following tables. This information is from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform.
Information on cautions collected by the police is only reported to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform broken down at force area level, not by police division, so it is not possible to separately identify the number of cautions in Leeds from our data.
Technically an offender could receive a second caution for a similar offence but it should be in very extenuating circumstances. The Home Office Circular discourages repeat use of the same penalty with the same offender. Someone who offends again needs to know that the next response will be a tougher one. And where a serious offence is committed, then the case should go to court.
Therefore both national and locally held records must be checked before a caution is given. If the suspect has previously received a caution then a further caution should not normally be considered. If there has been a sufficient lapse of time to suggest that a previous caution has had a "significant deterrent effect" then a caution can be administered, but it is at the discretion of the police and CPS. The lapse of time varies, in practice, between forces.
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 West Yorkshire police force area Age 10-15 3,099 3,158 3,116 4,140 5,149 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. Our ref:PQ151448 Source: RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice.
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 West Yorkshire Violence against the person 1,109 1,670 2,493 4,277 6,038 Burglary 401 390 346 485 563 Robbery 37 37 29 41 49 Theft and handling stolen goods 2,688 2,423 2,538 3,138 3,635 Fraud and forgery 208 210 189 279 332 Criminal damage 52 76 83 101 149 Drug offences 934 1,271 1,294 1,457 1,674 Other indictable offences 139 165 323 362 520 Summary offences (excluding motoring) 3,474 3,787 3,951 4,743 4,859 Sexual offences 29 44 31 76 85 England and Wales Sexual offences 1,240 1,203 1,359 1,553 1,761 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. Our ref: PQ 151284 and 151285. Source: RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice.