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Rapists among the 8,000 sex offenders let off with a caution
Last updated at 21:22pm on 11.06.07
8,000 sex offenders have escaped with a caution rather than being charged and jailed
Almost 8,000 sex offenders including 234 rapists have been let off with a caution over the past five years, it has emerged.
The criminals allowed to walk free with a slap on the wrist also included 1,678 who committed offences against children.
Alarmingly, 350 of the victims were under the age of 13.
The figures, which showed a total of 7,941 sex offenders received a caution over the past five years, were revealed in a survey carried out using Freedom of Information legislation. They provoked outrage from victim support groups and opposition MPs.
The Conservatives blamed the pressure placed on police and prosecutors to bring "offenders to justice".
Police can count a crime as solved if they simply issue a caution.
The alternative is to take time dragging the offender through the courts where more than nine out of ten rape cases collapse.
Cautions were given for child porn offences, bigamy, exploitation of prostitution, indecent exposure, sexual offences against animals, sexual grooming and incest as well as for rape.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "It is bad enough that so many offenders are getting away with effectively no punishment - it is outrageous that this is happening in very serious cases of sexual assault involving children.
"This is a direct consequence of Labour pursuing a policy of getting detections by the easiest possible route."
Liberal Democrat spokesman Nick Clegg said: "There are many circumstancesin which the police rightly use cautions, but the public will be shocked to learn that it is taking place on such a large scale for such serious offences."
Maggie Parks, of Rape Crisis, said the figures - which cover police forces in England - were "very concerning".
The Association of Chief Police Officers insisted offenders were not being "let off ", since the caution would still be noted on a criminal record and they would be listed on the Sex Offenders Register.
ACPO said that police would take into account the victim's views, age and welfare.
Cautions would be given in circumstances where the victim of a rape did not turn up to give evidence at court, or sometimes if the case involved a 16-year-old boy having consensual sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend.
A spokesman for the new Ministry of Justice said "very few" of the cautions were for rape offences against children.
She added: "Use of cautions is a matter for the police but in exceptional circumstances - for instance where the victim does not want to proceed with a prosecution - a caution will still result in the offender having to comply with the notification provisions of the Sex Offenders Register, for example."
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police, where 138 cautions were issued for sex offences involving children in the past five years, said many of the offenders were juveniles themselves or people with behavioural or learning difficulties.
Reader views (4)
I feel cheated. It took everything I had in me to stand up to the man who was abusing me. He got put on the sex offenders register and left with a caution. He leads a normal, happy life and works very near to me. Where as I'm left in this fearful shadow. He is still able make my life hell and hard work even though he was put on the register and cautioned.
- Anon, Norwich
It's better than an acquittal if the evidence to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt is missing. However, if the victim of a serious assault wants it, the case should ALWAYS be heard by a jury.
- Nigel, London
Do 35 in a 30 zone and get fined and points. Indecently assault someone and get a telling off. Where are the values that made this nation great?
- Dan, Manchester
Welcome to Bliar's Britain, "tough on crime" unless of course we need your cell for someone else in which case we'll just send you home with a slap on the wrist.
- Trevor Roll, London
