Criminals are to be offered "conditional cautions" instead of prosecution in an attempt to ease the chronic delays in Sussex's court system.

Under the scheme offenders who admit minor crimes will be told they can avoid court as long as they make good their behaviour through letters of apology to victims, paying for repairs to damaged property and other reparations.

Offenders who fail to complete the conditions of the caution within a set time will be taken to court.

Last year the CPS in Sussex dealt with 33,000 cases - a 10,000 rise since 2002 - and it is normal for defendants to wait up to three months from the date they were charged for their trial to start.

Sussex chief prosecutor Sarah-Jane Gallagher said: "I welcome it because I think having more options available means the courts can be kept for the more serious cases. Low-level offending can be dealt with in other ways if a person is sorry and has admitted the offence."

Ms Gallagher said the initiative was going to have an impact on the courts across Sussex where the CPS hopes it will help reduce the backlog of cases.

In the current system people who admit minor offences or are charged with their first offence can receive a caution from a senior police officer instead of going before magistrates and facing a conviction and sentence.

The new scheme will be limited to certain cases, including non-domestic burglaries, minor criminal damage and disorderly behaviour.

Ms Gallagher said the new system would give the CPS an added option in dealing with offenders as well as helping to ensure courts are not blocked with minor cases.

She said each case would be decided individually and the decision to offer a conditional caution would be taken in the public interest.

Some defendants face a long wait before their case comes to trial at magistrates courts, even for minor offences.

The current time scale for trials in Sussex is a six to ten week wait. In Brighton the average wait is three months which has significantly improved in recent years from its one time high of eight months.

The scheme is expected to be operating nationwide by December.

It will not be available to juveniles at first but it could later be extended to people aged 17 and under.

Graham Hill, a senior manager at Victim Support Sussex, said some victims would support the new arrangements.

He said: "Police have for many years been able to give a caution without conditions to offenders who have committed relatively minor crimes.

"This extension to allow conditions to be attached to cautions would be welcomed by some victims, for example where offenders committed criminal damage and have to pay for the damage as part of the conditions of the caution.

"On some occasions it will be quicker and would mean the offender would have to pay back the victim, which would not have happened if the matter had gone to court.

"I'm sure the CPS will deal sensitively with this new procedure because some victims, for example the victims of assault, might see this as being an easy option for the offender."

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