There's growing concern that offenders in England and Wales are getting away with serious crimes because police are issuing too many on the spot fines and cautions rather than bringing them to court.

Our reporter Sarah Sturdey investigated 'soft justice', you can read her blog post below.

It's always difficult as a journalist to get a story on air and to get a response from the appropriate authorities without hard facts and statisitcs.

Working in the field what happens on the ground wont become a Home Office statistic for another 18 months. But it was evident when looking into the issue of 'soft justice' that anecdotally there is a serious issue of public interest happening across England and Wales.

Most startling was the fact that defence solicitors were prepared to say their clients were 'getting away with it'. It was feeling held beyond more than a handful.

The same applied to sources saying the courts are 'very quiet', but Clerks to Justices, as civil servants, did not want to respond to a survey to get a substantive picture of whether there has been a drop in the numbers of offenders going to court this year and the Ministry of Justice didn't feel it 'appropriate' to send it out on our behalf.

But this was a story which seemed of such public interest I felt there was enough anecotal evidence and enough representative bodies validating the concern, along with other credible statisitcs from various sources to run with.

The very nature of the story showed that there is scepticism over many of the crime related figures which are given out. Given the response from the public to 'soft justice for serious crime' it has been worthwhile providing a platform for a wider debate about the state of our criminal justice system and whether it is really serving the people it's primary meant for, the victims and the general public at large.

Let the debate begin..................

On the show this morning we heard from Cindy Barnett, the chairman of the Magistrates Association and Steve Wakefield this morning. Steve wrote to his Chief Constable in the West Country after an incident involving his son, where a motorist received a caution for threatening him with a knife. Steve and Cindy spoke to Richard and Shelagh and you can hear the interview below.

Richard also spoke to Digby Johnson, a criminal defence solicitor in Nottingham, about the serious consequences of a soft justice approach and Ian Johnstone, the President of the Police Superintendents Association who says out of court punishments still have their place, but may be given too frequently. You can listen to the interviews below.

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