How does a fine compare to a caution?

[MrsGee]

This is a bit of a confusing one so i'll explain as best i can! 4 years ago my brother had been camping and shooting with our dad (who is a gamekeeper by trade), a few weeks later he was stopped whilst driving his new car for a routine traffic check and his car searched as it apparently had a marker on it from the previous owner.

My brother still had a knife in the boot from his camping weekend and was arrested with possession of an offensive weapon & sent to magistrates court a few weeks later where he received a small fine (£50) and the knife was destroyed.

How does this instance compare to a caution? The only reason i ask is for a job my husband has been offered he has to pass a BASIC CRB. My neighbour's son who also got the job had previously been cautioned for GBH yet received his CRB back with nothing on there.

Obviously i know he should never have had the knife in the car, i would just really appreciate knowing where we stand as i can find nothing on the net which explaines fines received in a magistrates court!

Any advice would be very greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[wolf63]

Who had the knife in the car? You say that it was your brother but it is your husband who has applied for a job and needs the CRB report.

I can't answer your question but maybe your answer may help clarify for someone who can answer it.

[Buenchico]

MrsGee:
An important question: Where are you?

In England and Wales there is (officially) no such thing as a 'basic' CRB check. The lowest level of check is 'standard' (but many people confusingly refer to it as 'basic'). Such a check will (contrary to Eddie's post) ALWAYS show ALL convictions. It will also show all cautions unless they were deleted by the relevant police force prior to October 2009. (From that date onwards, cautions are no longer deleted from criminal records).

In England and Wales only employers and organisations within the 66 categories listed here are permitted to have access to CRB checks:
http://www.homeoffice...ons-guide?view=Binary
(However quite a lot of employers, including the Post Office, seem to illegally find ways around the rules).

Scotland and Northern Ireland also have 'standard' (as well as 'enhanced') checks which, as in England and Wales, will show all convictions and cautions. Again, the checks are only available to employers and organisations where the work will be within the 66 categories above.

However Scotland and Northern Ireland also have (proper) 'basic' checks. Those checks are available to all employers but they only show convictions and caution which aren't 'spent'.

So the answer to your question is largely dependent upon which part of the UK you're in.

Chris

[Buenchico]

A slight correction:
I implied that Eddie was wrong. He is, of course, perfectly correct in stating that spent convictions won't appear on a 'basic' check. However, as I've pointed out, such checks don't actually exist within England and Wales.

[MrsGee]

Ooops, ever so sorry! I was discussing my husband with someone at the same time as typing and typed husband instead! Goodness me, need sleep i think!

My brother is in England so doesn't look good then. Out of interest is a caution 'worse' than a fine?

[Buenchico]

Cautions were originally introduced for two reasons:
1. they saved upon the time of the the police and the courts ; and
2. they allowed a minor offence to be dealt with, WITHOUT giving the offender 'a criminal record'.

However, at that time, nobody had formally defined exactly what was meant by 'a criminal record'. (It was generally accepted that it only referred to convictions before a court, rather than including cautions, as that was clearly the intention of Parliament). It was only later that the Criminal Records Bureau was set up and someone had to decide what that body should record. The decision was taken that the CRB should keep records of cautions but that police forces should have the discretion to delete such records from the file after 5 years. That resulted in a lack of conformity because some police forces deleted all cautions, some deleted cautions for some types of offence but not for others, while some forces never deleted cautions. In October 2009 a court ruling resulted in all cautions being permanently retained on file.

The only real difference between a fine (imposed by a court) and a caution is that the former arises from a 'conviction' whereas the latter does not. So if an application form asks 'Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence?', someone with a caution can always answer 'No', whereas someone with a conviction (resulting in a fine) must consider whether that conviction is now 'spent'.

Chris