Apology enough for 3,000 violent and sex offences
SEX offenders are among thousands of people to avoid prosecution by saying ‘sorry’ to their victims.
Last year almost 3,000 violent and sexual crimes in Greater Manchester were dealt with by apologies and other ‘community resolutions,’ rather than hauling people to court.
Greater Manchester Police say the methods ‘empower’ victims who do not want formal action – and prevent re-offending.
Cases include one of ‘abuse of children through sexual exploitation’; five of sexual activity with a child under five years old; and nine of sexual activity with a child under 16. There were also 30 cases of sexual assault of a female aged 13 or over; six on girls under 13; and two on boys under 13.
A dozen cases of exposure and voyeurism, and three of cruelty to children, were also dealt with without court action.
A number of sexual offences involved school-age young people sharing inappropriate images.
In these circumstances, the restorative justice approach provides the opportunity to educate young people, prevent ‘unnecessary’ criminalisation, and provides an opportunity for them to apologise for their actions and understand the damage they have caused, police say.
Community resolutions can include offenders saying sorry, paying compensation or undertaking other informal settlements for their crimes – instead of facing a prosecution or warning. Police chiefs’ guidelines on the use of community resolutions state they should only be used for ‘less serious’ offences, such as lowlevel criminal damage, low value theft, minor assaults that don’t cause injury, and anti-social behaviour. Figures show GMP issued community resolutions for violent or sexual offences 2,760 times in 2017/18 – the highest number for any police force in England and Wales. Some 1,560 were for violence without injury, which is in line with police guidelines.
The remaining 1,200 included the sex offences and 784 cases of violence with injury.
The figures include 46 racially or religiously-aggravated assaults, in which 15 caused injury.
The number of community resolutions issued by GMP for violent and sexual crimes actually fell by 830 between 2016/17 and 2017/18.
That decrease reflects the national picture – there were seven per cent fewer resolutions issued for violent or sexual crime in 2017/18 than in 2016/17.