Another day, another sign of the British state’s acceptance of criminality. This time it’s the news that almost half of people caught in possession of Class A drugs avoid criminal sanction, with the police either issuing a ‘community resolution’, which does not create a criminal record, or avoid any action at all ‘in the public interest’. This represents a dramatic change since 2016, when only 7.5 per cent of those caught in possession of hard drugs avoided prosecution. Why has this happened? And what does it mean for the drugs trade in Britain?
In some cases, those avoiding prosecution will be asked to participate in ‘diversion schemes’, described by the College of Policing as ‘discretionary interventions… which aim to reduce subsequent offending by diverting individuals away from traditional criminal justice processes’.
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