22 Rapists Let Off With A Caution

[The Wookiee]

4 November 2006
22 RAPISTS LET OFF WITH A CAUTION
By Oonagh Blackman

A SHOCK rise in the use of cautions has let 22 RAPISTS walk free with slapped wrists.

The number of violent thugs ticked off went up 17 per cent to 183,000 last year, alarming Home Office figures revealed yesterday.

Sex offenders, robbers and violent criminals were among those set free with a police caution rather than face trial.

Tory David Davis laid into Home Secretary John Reid as he blamed the Government's failure to build more prisons on the fiasco and branded it an "insult to the victims of crime".

He added: "It is bad enough so many people suffer from soaring violent crime. It is outrageous so many people get away with it.

"This is a consequence of Labour's failure to address the lack of capacity in prisons, meaning people who should be in jail are not."

The Home Office figures revealed 299,000 offenders were given a caution in 2005 - a 17 per cent jump on the previous year.

And 51,000 violent crooks were let off with a caution, a rise of 39 per cent.

The Government sparked more fury yesterday with plans for young criminals to serve time in children's homes instead of jail.

Lib Dem Nick Clegg said: "Overcrowded prisons must not be allowed to turn children's homes from refuges into semi-penal institutions."

And Labour MP George Howarth called for more police to tackle organised crime after claiming parts of Merseyside are "controlled by gangsters". He added: "They determine who can live where...what time you can walk the streets and control shops."



Discuss

 

[Tooting Gull]

Breaking news, then...

 

[7:18]

Breaking news, then...

no they are twisting facts and figures (minor details) to sensationalize the article

really it was Nov 22nd, 4 rapists...

 

[The Wookiee]

Breaking news, then...

Please post me the link to where the subject has been discussed on here before then

 

[Tom Bombadil]

As the conviction rate for rape is something like 1 in 20, actually getting somebody to accept a caution might be seen as progress.

The real scandal is the institutional and cultural failures that have led to the lamentable success rate in prosecuting people for this offence.

 

[Mrs Coach]

Disgraceful

 

[rospants]

nice to know we're all safe

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I suspect (and I could be wrong here) that in the majority of those cases, the caution was given because the victim, having reported the incident, then declined to pursue the issue.

It happens relatively frequently- people report things because they want the police to know about it, but having given it some thought, they can't face going through it all again and particularly having to have a medical examination, which is unpleasant and invasive. Without the victim's consent to prosecute, it's very difficult to get things through to court, hence if the bloke's admitted to having sex with the victim, a caution is probably where it'll end up, for the sake of at least getting something on his record (and getting him on the sex offenders' register if necessary).

I'd hazard a guess also that most of these are going to be rapes by friends, acquaintances and family members (ie husbands/boyfriends)- stemming from people drinking too much at parties and so on. The rare type of incident where a guy jumps out of a bush and rapes a complete stranger at knifepoint would never be dealt with by way of caution.

 

[rospants]

I suspect (and I could be wrong here) that in the majority of those cases, the caution was given because the victim, having reported the incident, then declined to pursue the issue.

It happens relatively frequently- people report things because they want the police to know about it, but having given it some thought, they can't face going through it all again and particularly having to have a medical examination, which is unpleasant and invasive. Without the victim's consent to prosecute, it's very difficult to get things through to court, hence if the bloke's admitted to having sex with the victim, a caution is probably where it'll end up, for the sake of at least getting something on his record (and getting him on the sex offenders' register if necessary).

I'd hazard a guess also that most of these are going to be rapes by friends, acquaintances and family members (ie husbands/boyfriends)- stemming from people drinking too much at parties and so on. The rare type of incident where a guy jumps out of a bush and rapes a complete stranger at knifepoint would never be dealt with by way of caution.

its actually quite disturbing that you are more likely to be raped by someone that you know than a stranger

 

[Lady Whistledown]

its actually quite disturbing that you are more likely to be raped by someone that you know than a stranger

Statistically true! When people hear talk of rapists, they automatically think of the masked man dragging random women into dark alleys etc, but that's actually very rare, especially round here.

We get a lot more incidents where partners have refused to take no for an answer (this is really under-reported as well, because women often just tend to accept it rather than question their partner's behaviour), or people who've got pissed in clubs, gone home willingly with someone and then found themselves in a situation they can't (due to fear, alcohol or whatever) control. It's extremely difficult to prove these offences as the suspect inevitably admits to having had sex with the victim, as forensics will prove that beyond question, but they insist she (usually a she) consented.

Same with murders, if you're interested- the VAST majority of murders in this country are committed by someone who knows the victim- partners or ex-partners, parents, acquaintances of some sort. Your chances of being randomly sent into the next world by a psychotic stranger are, thankfully, incredibly low.

It's your temperamental best mate you need to keep an eye on

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

*looks up from reading his copy of "Guns & Knives"*

 

[surrey jim]

discraceful