Circumstances For Use
A caution is a warning given to adults aged 18 or over for minor crimes. People aged 17 or under do not receive formal cautions for minor crimes, but instead "reprimands" or "warnings". Although a caution is not a conviction, it forms a part of a person's criminal record and can be used as evidence of bad character if a person goes to court for another crime.
Per the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, simple cautions, reprimands and final warnings become spent immediately, and conditional cautions become spent after 3 months. Although cautions can show up on DBS checks, live records may be removed after five years, although they are often retained longer or indefinitely in practice.
Read more about this topic: Police Caution
Famous quotes containing the words circumstances for:
“We are responsible for actions performed in response to circumstances for which we are not responsible.”
—Allan Massie (b. 1938)