Out-of-court punishments accounted for more than half of all offences dealt with by the justice system last year, for the first time in modern criminal history, according to figures published yesterday.

The rise of summary justice at the expense of formal hearings in courts meant that 51 per cent of offences were dealt with by a caution, on-the-spot fine or cannabis warning.

Courtroom convictions as a percentage of all offences brought to justice in England and Wales have fallen by just under 20 per cent in five years. The figures show that convictions in court accounted for 49 per cent of all offences brought to justice in 2006-07, compared with 68 per cent in 2002-03.

Cautions increased by 17 per cent last year to 350,000, fixed-penalty notices issued by the police rose by 37 per cent to 201,200 and warnings for cannabis possession rose by 2,000 to 83,000. Fifty-two per cent of fixed-penalty notices were paid in full.

The figures, released by the Ministry of Justice, will fuel fears that out-of-court punishments were used inappropriately to meet the Government target of bringing 1.25 million offences to justice in 2006-07. In fact, 1.43 million cases were brought to justice.

The Police Superintendents’ Association has said that the use of fixed-penalty notices for disorder has grown to such an extent that it is time to examine their operation before the number of people taken to court falls even further.

Enver Solomon, deputy director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said last night: “By using police officers to dish out cautions and penalty notices, the Government has ensured more offences have been so-called brought to justice. In reality, more people have been needlessly caught up in the criminal-justice net while there has not been an increase in the number of convictions. Whether this state of affairs corresponds with what the public would consider justice seems at best a moot point.”

Cindy Barnett, the chairman of the Magistrates’ Association, said: “Our position is straightforward. We remain in favour of minor matters that don’t need to go through the court process being dealt with elsewhere. However, we are wholly against serious matters that merit the court process and a sentencing being dealt with by a range of authority figures outside court.”

Figures such as the police, she added, may have “proper authority but they are not sentencers, they are not members of the judiciary and they are subject to targets”. “Everybody would agree,” she told the association at its annual meeting in London, “that not a single judicial decision of ours is decided by targets. Not ever.” Yesterday’s figures also showed that only 1 in 20 of the 11 million offences that were reported in the British Crime Survey led to a suspect appearing in court, and fewer than 1 per cent resulted in a jail sentence. Only 1.5 million of the 5.4 million offences recorded by the police in England and Wales were detected. The number of offenders found guilty or cautioned fell by 1 per cent from 2005-06 to 1.77 million. The number of offenders cautioned for serious offences rose by 11 per cent to 203,800. Overall, the number of offenders cautioned for a serious offence as a percentage of those found guilty or cautioned — known as the cautioning rate — increased by three per cent to 41 per cent. In Dyfed-Powys, this figure was 61 per cent, but only 20 per cent in North Yorkshire.

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “The Government’s own report shows that their claims to be getting tough on crime are based on fiddled figures, not reality. Victims of crime want to see real justice. This involves offenders being prosecuted, punished and rehabilitated. They do not want to see offenders let off with a slap on the wrist or given a fine that half of them do not pay.”

— Magistrates said that plans to strip them of powers to suspend sentences could backfire and send prison numbers soaring (Frances Gibb writes). They reacted with dismay when the Lord Chief Justice announced at their annual general meeting in London that the measure was going through Parliament. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers said that the power to impose such sentences was being removed because they were being handed out when community sentences were more appropriate.

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