2,000 sex offenders – including rapists and paedophiles – escape with a caution
Two thousand sex offenders – including rapists and paedophiles – escaped with a caution last year.
The shock figure is a two per cent increase on 2006.
It means that, of all sex offenders punished for their crime, 28 per cent escaped with a slap on the wrist.
Those cautioned included 30 people guilty of rape – up from 20 a year earlier – four attempted rapes and nearly 300 people who admitted having sex with under 16s.
Cautions were also handed out to six people who admitted breaking child prostitution or child pornography laws.
The report revealed that – overall – the number of convicts escaping with a caution was up four per cent, to 362,900.
There has been a 28 per cent leap since Labour came to power in 1997, when only 282,100 people were given a slap on the wrist.
Other criminals to escape with the sanction – supposedly reserved for minor crimes – last year included almost 7,000 burglars, 614 robbers, and 72,789 people convicted of theft or handling stolen goods.
There are huge regional variations in the use of ‘soft justice’ cautions. In Dyfed-Powys, a staggering 57 per cent of indictable offences end in a caution – compared to only 22 per cent in North Wales.
Earlier this year, the Mail revealed how police had been instructed to give some serial criminals a string of cautions rather than drag them to court.
Under the Home Office guidance, anyone caught committing the same ‘trivial’ offence again can be let off with the equivalent of a slap on the wrist – providing two years have passed.
It means a thief could receive up to five cautions in ten years without ever having to face a court appearance.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘Although there is a high percentage increase of rape cautions, the number of cases actually remains very small (32 in 2007 and 20 in 2006).
‘Only in exceptional circumstances will the police and CPS decide that it is in the best interests of the victim not to prosecute.’
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