There is a role for the caution in the criminal justice system. It gives notice to minor felons that while they might not be punished this time, their misdemeanour has been noted. The fixed-penalty offence has its place too, as a way of penalising less serious offenders without the need to take them through a court.

However, according to local barristers and solicitors interviewed by the Telegraph & Argus, both measures are sometimes being used inappropriately to meet Government performance targets.

Some shocking examples have been used to illustrate this: a man from Bradford with previous convictions for violence who was offered a caution for fracturing the legs of a baby when he lost his temper; a Keighley man being given a fixed-penalty ticket despite being caught on CCTV cameras kicking someone in the head.

It's reported that in West Yorkshire cautions for sexual offences have nearly trebled while there have also been increases in cautions for robbery, burglary, theft, fraud, criminal damage and drugs offences. So targets are being met despite there being a big decrease in the workload at the county's courts.

This is an unsettling development. Both the general public and the law-breakers tend to regard a caution as "getting away with it". Its increased use is bound to make criminals feel that even if they get caught very little is likely to happen to them.

And at the same time it will reduce the confidence of the public, who have every right to demand that offences they consider to be serious should be treated as such by the system which is meant to protect them.