Out of Court Disposals Scrutiny Panel

Out of Court Disposals (OOCDs) allow the police to deal effectively and proportionately with low-level, often first-time offending without a prosecution at court. OOCDs provide the victim with reparative options and address the offender’s behaviour through conditions that can be both punitive and rehabilitative. OOCDs are victim focused, taking into account the full circumstances of the offence, offender and views of the victim.

The police must take the views of a victim into consideration however, the ultimate decision of sanctioning an OOCD rests with the police. An offender has to admit they committed the offence for an OOCD to be considered and they must be eligible in terms of previous recorded offending.

OOCDs can maximise the use of police officer time – achieving a satisfactory outcome for the victim and wider public. They also provide intervention and support to potential offenders at the early stages in criminal behaviour, diverting them into rehabilitative services to help reduce escalation of offending.

Disposals Types:

There are currently two types of disposal that the police can issue:

Community Resolution: A voluntary informal agreement mainly used with first-time offenders for less serious offences. Conditions can be attached to a Community Resolution, however there are no enforcement options available if the offender fails to comply. However, this will be recorded on the Police Record Management System so the Police can take this into consideration in the event of future offending.

Conditional Caution or a Youth Conditional Caution: A caution with conditions attached which aim to focus on rehabilitation and repairing the harm to the victim. If the offender fails to comply with the conditions they may be prosecuted for the original offence.

Community Remedy:

The purpose of the Community Remedy is to provide victims with a say in the way offenders are dealt with when they commit low level and minor crimes or anti-social behaviour (ASB). Community Remedy applies when the police decide to deal with the low level offence outside of the courts. For further information about the Community Remedy, click on the link below:

Community Remedy – Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner (hampshire-pcc.gov.uk)

Scrutiny Panel:

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight OOCDs scrutiny panel was set up in 2018. The panel meets every month, to ensure the use of an OOCD was appropriate, proportionate, consistent with national and local policy, and considers the victims’ wishes where appropriate.

Panel Meetings:

At each panel meeting, members review a random selection of cases based on a specific crime type or theme (a list of themes to be reviewed can be viewed within the terms of reference of the panel below). After reviewing and discussing each case, the panel grades each case. Each case can be graded as follows:

The disposal was appropriate and consistent with the out of court disposals framework, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary policy, the Crown Prosecution Service Code for Crown Prosecutors and the Victim Code,
The disposal was appropriate, with observations from the panel noted,
Inappropriate use of out of court disposal with learning identified,
The panel fails to agree on the appropriateness of the disposal.

Membership:

Terry Norton, the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner chairs the panel. Membership of the panel includes representatives from the following bodies:

The Crown Prosecution Service
Magistrates
Victim Support
Independent Advisory Group
The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for HIOW

Representatives of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary also attend the panel to provide insight into cases and answer any questions from panel members but are unable to take part in grading of any of the cases, which are being reviewed. Partners also sometimes attend panel meetings from other agencies, which are linked to a particular theme that is being reviewed by the panel, such as domestic abuse.

Panel Meetings: