Consultation on out of court disposals

The current out of court disposals landscape has evolved over a number of years. The need to deal with some offences flexibly and efficiently outside the court process has resulted in a number of different OOCDs. OOCDs are a valuable tool to the police and others. They can reduce bureaucracy and keep police on the front line at a time when resources are constrained. Used correctly, they can represent a proportionate and effective response to anti-social behaviour and low level criminality. They can re-engage individuals with the justice system and improve public confidence. Importantly, local flexibility ensures that the police and the CPS can use their professional judgement to tackle local crime by deciding how best to proceed in any individual case. However, public confidence in the effectiveness or appropriateness of this system can be damaged by the perception that significant numbers of serious or violent offences have been wrongly dealt with by means of an out of court disposal.

We want to pull together the knowledge, expertise, experience and opinions of policing and criminal justice stakeholders, and the public more widely, to ensure that out of court disposals are as effective, simple and transparent as possible. We also want to ensure that that any changes to OOCDs made as a result of this consultation are based on full consideration of their potential impact on victims, offenders, communities and the criminal justice system (CJS). This consultation is being led by the Ministry of Justice and the police, in partnership with the Home Office, the Attorney General’s Office and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).