Written evidence to be reported to the House

Part of Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 16 October 2007.

Alert me about debates like this

Christine Lawrie: I would say that there is a common-sense view that—as you see with motoring offences, for example—as offences become just one of the risks of life, people start to take them less seriously. There is an issue of principle about whether you hold the line and say that certain things are so serious that they must be dealt with by a court. It is not just about ensuring that the offender goes through a proper process in their own interests, it is also about the way in which society deals with misbehaviour and offending in general. You are right, there is a risk that you gradually erode that barrier between what is serious and what is not so serious, in the wrong direction. A lot of the people that we deal with would start to see a caution as just one of things that perhaps you get on a night out. I might be paraphrasing slightly, but there is a risk that you start to erode things in the wrong direction.