Have you refused a Police Caution?

[JeWeL41]

Since my son's caution and the dreadful way he has been treated I have read countless complaints and regrets on sites like this from people who have eventually realised the full enormity of accepting a caution (the police should ensure all implications are known befoe the caution is signed but they do not)- the alternative, they are constantly told, was to go to court. How many actually choose to do this?

[NORMANTHEDOG]

surely its better than a court appearance,maybe in the local rag etc,who wants that.

[bednobs]

accepting a caution is admitting you did whatever it was, no? So the alternative of going to court surely isnt much better if you are going to plead guilty and accept a punishment?

[JeWeL41]

If only it were that simple! my son was told he was to be cautioned and less than 7 minutes later it was done - he was given no copy of it and didn't even know what it was for. He told me 'well I said I pushed the girls away to stop them slapping and kicking me' - the girls in question agreed with this! My son is a very young 18 and had never had any dealings with the police before or even known anyone that had, but at 18 he is an adult and entirely on his own.

[SimonGent]

My understanding was that you had to fully admit the offence, the case be reviewed and it be decided that there was sufficient evidence to go to court, and then finally the person had to sign to say he/she admitted the offence and furthermore sign to say they understood what a caution was?

Of course if somebody doesn't understand what's being said etc then if 17 or over they should have an appropriate adult - ususlaly somebody trained to deal with learning difficulties/mental health etc. What was the legal advice?

If someone refuses a caution it would automatically go to charge. I'm not entirely sure this is better because it would be a lot worse if convicted.