Criminals will be offered "conditional cautions" instead of prosecution, in a bid to ease delays in Sussex's court system.

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

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

Last year, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in Sussex dealt with 33,000 cases - a rise of 10,000 since 2002 - and defendants often wait up to three months from the date they were charged for their trial.

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 would impact on courts across Sussex, where the CPS hopes it will help reduce the backlog of cases.

The current wait for trials in Sussex is six to ten weeks. In Brighton, the average wait is three months, which has improved in recent years from its onetime high of eight months.

The new scheme, expected to be operating nationwide by December, will be limited to certain cases, including nondomestic burglaries, minor criminal damage and disorderly behaviour.

Ms Gallagher said it would give the CPS an added option in dealing with offenders as well as ensuring courts were 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.

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

Under 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.

Graham Hill, of Victim Support Sussex, said: "Police have, for many years, been able to give a caution without conditions to offenders who committed relatively minor crimes.

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

"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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