Mentally disordered offenders: Diversion from the criminal justice system

Abstract

Abstract It has never been the rule in this Country — I hope it never will be — that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution. Indeed the very first Regulations under which the Director of Public Prosecutions worked provided that he should … prosecute ‘wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest.' That is still the dominant consideration. (H. C. Deb. Vol. 483, Col. 681, 29 January 1951)