Recommendation 122

Some witnesses, however, expressed reservations about the current use of out-of-court disposals (where the police deal with a low-level, often first-time offender without prosecution) in the UK. Tom Franklin referred to “an unregulated increase over the past few years”, and a lack of clarity as to any assessment of offenders’ needs. He called for out-of-court disposals “to be properly regulated”. 241 Gavin Dingwall also told us that “we have to be slightly careful, because the nature of out of court disposals has changed greatly”, adding that “the police now have far too much power”. 242 Issues related to the use of out-of-court disposals, while important, fall outside the scope of our inquiry. They merit further consideration.