Out of Court Resolutions

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Introduction

The PCC facilitates a twice-yearly Scrutiny Panel to scrutinise the use of Out of Court Resolutions, in response to national recommendations following concerns about their appropriate use.  The role of the Panel is to ensure that the use of Out of Court Resolutions is appropriate and proportionate, consistent with national and local policy, and consider the victims’ wishes where appropriate. The Panel will make recommendations and identify learning which is presented in an annual report to the Ethics and Transparency Panel (ETP) for further scrutiny with the Chief Constable.

The term ‘Out of Court Resolutions’ (OOCR) refers to a range of options available to the Police to use in certain cases as an alternative to a prosecution. By using these alternative resolutions correctly, the Police can deal with less serious offences, and offenders with little or no previous offending history in a way that is both proportionate and rehabilitative.  Additionally, the resolutions are designed to address the need make good any loss or harm sustained by the victim or community.

 
 Adult Offenders

In Leicestershire the two OOCR options available when dealing with Adult offenders are Adult Community Resolutions and Adult Conditional Cautions.

  • Adult Community Resolutions should be used by officers and staff to secure desistance from offending behaviour as an outcome. They should also be used to make good any harm caused by an offender. Community Resolution is a way of dealing with low level offending in a way that is proportionate and appropriate where it is not in the public interest to prosecute. This resolution must only be used where the officer or staff member is confident that the outcome will prevent further offending and the offender is likely to comply with the agreed actions. Community Resolution can only be offered where the offender admits the offence or accepts responsibility. The victim’s views should also be obtained and taken into consideration.
  • Adult Conditional Cautions enable officers to deal with low level offending outside of the formal court system for cases which would be suitable for prosecution but where the public interest is better served by the offender complying with suitable conditions. The resolution formally records the offender's behaviour and imposes conditions that must be met within a specified time. The offender must also admit to the offence and accept the conditions to be imposed. Failure to comply with the set conditions may result in the offender facing prosecution for the original offence.  Again the victim’s views on the resolution should be obtained and taken into consideration.

There are a wide range of options available to be used in connection with Adult OOCRs, and these fall into a number of set categories:

  • Rehabilitative (e.g.  attendance at specific programmes designed to tackle addictions or challenge views)
  • Reparative (e.g. making good any financial or material loss sustained by a victim or community)
  • Restrictive (e.g. curfew, not to approach victim, property or area), Punitive (e.g. pay a financial penalty)
Youth Offenders

A Youth is defined as any person between the ages of 10 and 17 years.  In Leicestershire there are three OOCR options available when dealing with Youth offenders:

  • Youth Community Resolutions
  • Youth Cautions
  • Youth Conditional Cautions

All of these conditions involve joint Police and Youth Offending Service (YOS) decision making, and YOS intervention with a view to preventing further offending. The basis of these options is similar to those for Adult offenders with the extra option of a Simple Caution which is used instead of a Conditional Caution in cases where there is no evidence that the youth will not comply with any YOS intervention.

YOS interventions can include, amongst other options, working with the youth in the areas of anger management, substance misuse and weapon possession.

Scrutiny

As with all other Police Force areas there is a national requirement for the Police and Crime Commissioner to facilitate regular scrutiny panels to review the Police use of OOCRs, and to give an open and independent assessment of the appropriateness of the Police decision making.

15 adult cases and 15 youth cases (30% domestic) are reviewed in one 2.5hr panel meeting, on the basis that panel cases have been read ahead of time (previously there were two separate panels for adult and youth respectively but the process has been streamlined and reduces demand on partners). The panel meet virtually twice per year, in the Spring and Autumn. The panels assess appropriate use, highlight examples of good practice and makes recommendations to the Force for improvement through an annual report to the ETP.  Each panel considers performance information and changes to legislation, policy and practise to support them in their role.

The overarching aim of the scrutiny panels is to bring transparency to the use of OOCRs, and to increase understanding and confidence in them as appropriate resolutions. The findings of each panel are widely reported among partners to support this aim.

The membership of each panel consists of:

  • Representative of the Police and Crime Commissioner
  • Inspector – Lead for Out of Court Resolutions (Crime)
  • Senior Prosecutors from the Crown Prosecution Service
  • Chair of the Magistrates Bench
  • Magistrates Court Legal Advisor
  • The Force Crime Registrar
  • Members of the Probation Service
  • Representatives from both the City and County Youth Offending Service
  • Representatives of other agencies involved in the Criminal Justice System
  • Partner agencies from victim and offender rehabilitation services

Following the panel's review each case receives a grading:

  1. Appropriate and consistent with policies
  2. Appropriate but with observations
  3. Inappropriate and inconsistent with policies
  4. Panel fails to reach an agreement

For each case, an individual review is reported back to the officer in charge of the case and their supervisor, informing of either recommendations for consideration or feeding back the praise of the panel where the case was handled appropriately. We feel it important to feedback positive comments as strongly as areas for learning, to promote confidence in Force.

A full report of each panel's findings can be found HERE