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10/04/2006
Number of rape cautions doubles
The number of rapists who receive a caution instead of a jail sentence has more than doubled in the past decade in England and Wales, according to the latest figures.
Forty offenders were cautioned for rape in 2004, compared with 19 in 1994, Home Office figures showed.
According to Home Office figures, in 2004, only 5.8% of reported rapes resulted in a conviction. However, the number of rapes reported to police is continuing to increase and has risen from around one in three in 1977 to one in twenty in 2004.
The Home Office stressed that cautions were only used in "exceptional" cases, such as in historic cases where the offender was now elderly or in cases where the offender was very young.
The Crown Prosecution Service cited two examples where a caution was given in a rape cases. One involved a pensioner who raped his sister when they were both children around fifty years ago.
The other case involved a 13-year-old boy who was given the equivalent of a caution for raping a young child. In that case, a youth offenders team, which included police and social services, worked with him to show him that his action were wrong.
A Home Office spokesman said: "Rape is an appalling crime - it devastates the lives of victims and their families. However, rape will always be a difficult offence to prosecute."
However, campaign group Rape Crisis said that it was "shocked" by the new figures. Rape Crisis chairwoman Nicole Westmarland said: "Rape is a crime that has a serious impact on its victims for years of even decades. It is completely unacceptable that rapists are able to continue living their day to day lives or even free to rape again."
There were 190,000 incidents of serious sexual assault against women aged between 16 and 59 in England and Wales in 2001. These included an estimated 80,000 incidents of rape or attempted rape.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 set down, for the first time, that a defendant in a rape case would need to show that they have reasonable grounds to believe that the other person had given their consent.
The Act also included a definition of consent - that a person consents if they agree by choice and has "the freedom and capacity to make that choice".
The government launched an advertising campaign last month, warning men that they could face a jail sentence if they have sex without ensuring consent.
(KMcA)
Forty offenders were cautioned for rape in 2004, compared with 19 in 1994, Home Office figures showed.
According to Home Office figures, in 2004, only 5.8% of reported rapes resulted in a conviction. However, the number of rapes reported to police is continuing to increase and has risen from around one in three in 1977 to one in twenty in 2004.
The Home Office stressed that cautions were only used in "exceptional" cases, such as in historic cases where the offender was now elderly or in cases where the offender was very young.
The Crown Prosecution Service cited two examples where a caution was given in a rape cases. One involved a pensioner who raped his sister when they were both children around fifty years ago.
The other case involved a 13-year-old boy who was given the equivalent of a caution for raping a young child. In that case, a youth offenders team, which included police and social services, worked with him to show him that his action were wrong.
A Home Office spokesman said: "Rape is an appalling crime - it devastates the lives of victims and their families. However, rape will always be a difficult offence to prosecute."
However, campaign group Rape Crisis said that it was "shocked" by the new figures. Rape Crisis chairwoman Nicole Westmarland said: "Rape is a crime that has a serious impact on its victims for years of even decades. It is completely unacceptable that rapists are able to continue living their day to day lives or even free to rape again."
There were 190,000 incidents of serious sexual assault against women aged between 16 and 59 in England and Wales in 2001. These included an estimated 80,000 incidents of rape or attempted rape.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 set down, for the first time, that a defendant in a rape case would need to show that they have reasonable grounds to believe that the other person had given their consent.
The Act also included a definition of consent - that a person consents if they agree by choice and has "the freedom and capacity to make that choice".
The government launched an advertising campaign last month, warning men that they could face a jail sentence if they have sex without ensuring consent.
(KMcA)
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