Cannabis Non arrestable offence

[MargeB]

What does this mean in practice? Does a caution give you a criminal record?

[Lillabet]

An arrestable offence is any for which the police can arrest you on the spot without a warrant. As a rule of thumb all 'serious' offences - those for which there is a maximum sentence of 5 years or more are arrestable.

In practice as the possession of cannabis for personal use is now a non arrestable offence it means that the police will not arrest anyone they find in possession of a small amount of cannabis. Possession of a large amount might cause suspicion of dealing which is arrestable.

A caution does go on your record, but is removed after a certain amount of time as 'spent' If you are applying for a job and you are asked to declare a criminal record then you would have to declare an unspent caution. It might affect your getting visas for some overseas travel also.

There are jobs where even spent convictions / cautions need to be declared. Beacause of this there will always be a record of the caution even if it is spent. In this case it will only be declared if you apply for a job where you would be classed as 'working with vulnerable people' such as with children in a school, old people in a care home, or in a hospital. Also any job 'concerned with the administration of justice' so working for the police / in a prison / for the court service / in a solicitor or barristers offices.

[MargeB]

Great, thanks Lillabet.

[Lillabet]

No problem, glad to be of help!