A man has been "cautioned" by police - What does this mean in the UK?

[jjimm]

@Firebringer

Not sure about South of the border but in Scotland previous offending is typically only used when determining sentencing rather than in determination of guilt.

That’s what I said about English/Welsh law, but incorrectly implicated Scotland (and NI) by saying “over here”.

[Rashaverak]

Once charged, the accused is then bailed/remanded in custody. When they are brought into court as a defendant, their prior history is not allowed to be taken into account by the court or the prosecution (though this is to be changed, or has changed, can’t remember). The jury is not meant to know anything about prior offenses. The case is meant to be assessed purely on its own merits.

There have indeed jjimm been significant changes to this central plank of English criminal process.

Section 101 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 permits submission of ‘bad character’ evidence, including previous convictions if any one of a number of conditions are met. These include whether such convictions are ‘important explanatory evidence’, or that it is ‘relevant to an important matter in issue’ (eg. whether the defendant actually committed the offence!)

It seems worryingly broad, although the judge does have discretion to exclude evidence if s/he believes to admit would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings.

As always the law is a bit more convoluted than that, so by all means have a read of the statute if you’re interested.