Clause 54
Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
2:30 pm
David Heath (Shadow Secretary of State for Justice & Lord Chancellor, Ministry of Justice; Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
Further to the comments made by the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate, may I ask the Minister why this measure does not distinguish between the rehabilitation provision for a youth conditional caution and the adult equivalent? Throughout the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, that distinction is made. That Act distinguishes between what applies to children or young people and what applies to adults. There is a different rehabilitation period for fines, community rehabilitation orders, community punishment orders, community punishment and rehabilitation orders, curfew orders, drug treatment and testing orders and for most custodial sentences. Indeed, even in part 1 of the Bill, there is a shorter rehabilitation period for the youth rehabilitation order than there is for the adult equivalent, so why is no distinction made in the case of these cautions? I am sure that the Minister has a reason, but it will have to be quite a good one to suggest that these measures must be an exception from all the other provisions that are covered by the 1974 Act.