Police Cautions
(asked on 3rd November 2014) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the number of police cautions issued for (a) rape, (b) sexual offences and (c) violent crimes in each year since 2010.
I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. Crime is falling and offenders are going to prison for longer. This Government has taken action to end cautions culture, and to make sure serious offenders do not receive penalties seen as soft options.
We are changing the law to ban ‘simple’ cautions for all of the indictable only offences - the most serious criminal offences which must be tried in the Crown Court including rape, manslaughter and robbery.
We are also banning ‘simple’ cautions for possession of any offensive weapon (including a knife), supplying Class A drugs and a range of sexual offences against children, including child prostitution and pornography.
We have also outlined a new approach to scrap all cautions, which is being piloted in Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and Leicestershire, with a view to being extended across the country.
The current simple cautions are a non-statutory disposal available to the police to dispose of any offence committed by an adult and are designed for dealing with low level, mainly first time offending.
The Ministry of Justice issues guidance on the process to be followed by the police when they are administering simple cautions for adult offenders. The latest guidance, issued in November 2013 following the Simple Cautions Review, states that the use of a simple caution for indictable only offences, such as rape, should only be given following authorisation by a senior police officer of at least the rank of Superintendent and the Crown Prosecution Service. These will be cases where there were exceptional circumstances which would mean that it was not in the public interest to prosecute.
The Government is legislating in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to place statutory restrictions on the use of cautions for certain serious offences.
Information on the number of simple cautions issued for rape, sexual offences and violent crimes, in England and Wales, from 2010 to 2013 (the latest available) can be found on the Ministry of Justice website and is available at the following link:-
For rape offences
Under “Offence” select rape of a female and rape of a male.
For sexual offences
Under “Offence type” select sexual offences.
For violent crimes
Under “Offence type” select violence against the person.
Further information on Offenders cautioned by sex and type of offence, 2003 to 2013
Is available at the following link:-
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly-december-2013
Under “Out of court disposals” data is available at Table Q2d.