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Panorama: Assault on Justice was broadcast on BBC One at 8.30pm on Monday, 9 November 2009.

More about Panorama: Assault on Justice

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The programme is right to look at the significant increase in cautions. However it is interesting to see the courts and CPS attempting to distance themselves from this extremely important issue where all the pressure for the police to reach an early disposal is from the Government and CPS as they continually refuse to hear cases or deal with them as they only want guilty pleas before the courts. The police are continually criticised however they continually demand further support from the CPS in charging decisions but are continually rebuffed by their laziness.

- Name withheld

A lot has been made of the lack of compassion and understanding of the police in relation to the cases mentioned. However, these incidents would not have been dealt with by police. The Crown Prosecution Service would have been the decision makers on the part of the female and the male who were assaulted and the CPS have hidden behind the public accountability of the police service. Panorama did not highlight this fact in any way. The documentary was extremely biased .

- Claire Roderick

You will probably find that in quite a few cases where cautions have been issued for fairly serious offences, it is because the police know that the matter would not end up in court. This is usually because the victim is unwilling to cooperate in the prosecution. Contrary to the rules of course, but their way of making sure the offender does not walk away scot free. Cautioning for serious offences where the victim is on-board is not just lazy but a serious dereliction of duty and indeed tantamount to gross misconduct.

- Femi

Tough on crime and the causes of crime seems another false promise by the Labour party. I am absolutely disgusted to learn about the way this country treats people who are victims of crime and by the fact that the MP interviewed didn't have a clue of what is happening.

- William Capewell

I can't believe what I am seeing and hearing these days from the so called justice ministry. We have police hiding the true extent of crime by re-categorising crime statistics. Soft sentencing. On the spot fines un-recorded. Criminals being lost by the system. Re-offenders not being put back in prison. Courts saying one sentence, but practicing another (early release) health & safety allowing people to drown or die. I really worry about the standard of the politicians who oversee this debacle. One consistent problem seems to be Jack Straw, who loves sound bites, but has overseen chaos. My elderly relatives are scared to walk around in the country they fought to keep free. Where is the justice in that.

- Peter Reeve

This programme reaffirms what everybody knows and that is that the Government are completely and utterly indifferent to crime and the victims of crime. The female MP from the Ministry of Justice was completely disingenuous and had nothing of value to say. I would like to see what would happen if a Minister's loved one was assaulted and the Police gave the assailant a caution. This is yet another example of where the Government has catastrophically failed to get to grip with a situation out of control. The Government, the Police and the Judiciary have all collectively failed and I don't see the situation changing unless there is a change of Government.

- Pete

I think that was the best search Panorama has done in the month. I think the "caution" powers should be removed from the police hands. For one they pose a risk of revenge from the victims, boast from the offenders and scorn of the judicial system among others. I hope this does not eventually establish "kangaroo" courts.

- Daniel

The mark of a civilised society is in its ability to administer justice; and be seen to do so. We are now a degenerate society: one that has lost the ability to compass even the most basic tenets of civilisation that pre-date Plato. Seeing the injuries sustained by the young lady and man in the programme, I felt physically ill. There is absolutely no basis on which we can expect to go forward in this country with any amelioration in violent crime all the while we have such a dereliction of duty by those in power. Massaging crime statistics might preserve their jobs but they should remember they walk the same mean streets as the rest of us and one day their cowardice might cost them their lives too.

- Rosalind Salter

The new and evergrowing number of out of court judgements are becoming a national disgrace. The verdicts and sentences are both wholly incompetent and inadequate. This is an era where criminals are disproportionally supported and defended at the expense of the victims. There was time when British judgement set a supreme example of fairness and impartiality to the rest of the world.

- Ronald Jones

There is no way that ANY violent offences, rape, child neglect or any sexual offence should be dealt with by means of a caution. This is not justice. It is, as your programme commendably put it, administrative convenience - the government cares only about saving money, and if this is done at the expense of justice, the common people and, indeed, decency, they carry on regardless. Another symptom following the ban on smoking in public places - a measure implemented entirely to save money and the cost to the NHS. Any health benefit to the populace was merely an unintended and public relations-boosting side effect. Ditto higher taxes on alcohol and draconian speeding legislation. If the government really cared about the populace, they would go about their money-saving measures in a way that didn't adversely affect the very people they are tasked with looking after (and, indeed, for which job they are paid - out of our taxes - to carry out).

- Nuydd Mu

What an excellent programme. Well done to the BBC as you have unearthed something of a national scandal. The Justice Ministry should be called to account for what it has done here which is to put targets and spin in front of justice. This must stop now and those responsible should be called to explain their actions.

- David Smith