Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

The noble and learned Baroness is always persuasive in her arguments. Of course I listen, but if I say that I will take the amendment away, the Committee would probably read too much into that. The point of developing youth conditional cautions is to keep young people out of the courts and out of custody. They would be one of a number of weapons at our disposal, along with reprimands and warnings. The balance to be struck is that, having placed an emphasis on pre-court disposals, one has to ensure that young people know that there are consequences if they do not work. That is the balance. This is not a matter of responding to the red tops because to me it is just plain common sense.