Sex offender cautions defended

Among those were 1,600 offences involving children, 350 involving a victim under the age of 13 and 230 for rape, a survey of police forces in England by the BBC News website found.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) insisted offenders were not being "let off", since the caution would still be noted on a criminal record and they would be entered on the sex offenders register.

Offences which attracted a caution included rape, child porn offences, bigamy, exploitation of prostitution, indecent exposure, sexual offences against animals, sexual grooming and incest.

Much of the information was obtained by the BBC using the Freedom of Information Act. Only one force, West Yorkshire Police, failed to provide figures, saying it would be too expensive to search for the results.

The poll comes as the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), the UK agency set up to tackle online paedophiles, perverts and sexual predators, prepared to release its first annual report detailing its achievements and future aims.

Acpo said that before deciding whether to charge or caution, 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.

Terrence Grange, Acpo lead for sexual offences and chief constable of Dyfed Powys Police, said: "Every incident will be treated on its own merit, taking into account the circumstances of the incident and the people involved."

A spokeswoman for the new Ministry of Justice said "very few" of the cautions were for rape offences against children. She said: "The Government is committed to securing more convictions in rape cases and has commissioned the child sex offender review to ensure that children are better protected from paedophiles.

"There are very few circumstances indeed where a caution for rape or offences against children is the most appropriate sanction. 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."