Police and Justice Bill

I endorse the argument of the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, which is the argument I made the previous day in Committee. I emphasise that it is fundamental to change cautions from an alternative to entering the criminal justice process to being non-punitive in their objective. I was a magistrate at one time, but am now much more involved with children and young people in the criminal justice process, and I feel that introducing this punitive element without an emphasis on reparation and rehabilitation risks putting children on to the slippery slope. We need to be positive in our approach to and dealings with young people, and to emphasise the value of reparation—making good and paying back for any admitted offence—and rehabilitation. We undermine or diminish that at our peril.