Clause 12 - Conditional cautions: types of condition
Police and Justice Bill
9:00 am
James Brokenshire (Hornchurch, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 141, in clause 12, page 7, line 31, at end insert ‘and undertake specified activities.’.
This is essentially a probing amendment on the conditions that can be attached to a caution. I want to obtain some clarification on the intent behind clause 12. The clause mentions
“a condition that the offender attend at a specified place at specified times.”
The Minister has spoken of the need, for example, in drug-related offences, for someone to attend a centre and receive treatment. The explanatory notes state that that might include the completion of a specified activity. My amendment would put that concept into the Bill.
If a condition is attached to a caution requiring an offender to attend a drug rehabilitation treatment centre, some involvement must be required. Just turning up at a specified time and place may not be sufficient, because an offender may not wish to co-operate with the service or facility. If the condition is to achieve its stated aim of facilitating rehabilitation, ensuring that an offender makes reparation, or punishing him, it should not be limited to attendance somewhere at specified times. For example, in the case of somebody who has damaged a wall or written graffiti on it, the condition might be that he should attend at a specified place at a specified time to clean up the mess that he has created. That is a creative way of making an offender appreciate the harm or damage that his actions have caused. However, it seems strange that the only condition that can be attached—and that can, therefore, be breached—is to tell the person that he has to attend the specified place at the specified time, without going on to say, “and you will undertake certain specified activities,” so that, should he not co-operate, it would be clear that he had breached the condition.
I tabled the amendment in order to clarify the intent behind the provisions and to find out what teeth they have to enable them to be followed through appropriately, so that if reparation is required, reparation actually occurs. Similarly, rehabilitation will take place by virtue of the fact that somebody attends a clinic and receives treatment and support in order to change his ways, whether they result from a drug habit or another problem. I shall be grateful for the Minister’s clarification.