Outrage at sex crime ‘apologies’
MORE than 400 sex offenders avoided serious punishment last year after being allowed to apologise to their victims, figures reveal.
Offenders escaped getting a criminal record after the police and Crown Prosecution Service allowed them to receive what is known as a “community resolution”.
The settlement, which involves the guilty party admitting responsibility for the offence and either apologising or paying compensation to a victim, was meant to be used for lowlevel crimes.
But Ministry of Justice statistics show community resolutions were used to clear up 431 sex offences last year, including sexual assaults, grooming and flashing offences.
Police chiefs say the resolutions are only ever used in relation to sexual offences if the victim is content for the crime to be dealt with in that way.
Officers also said some of the offences involved two consenting underage children.
The tally of cases dealt with in this way last year included eight sexual assault cases on girls under 13, and three similar cases on boys under 16. There were also two occasions where police cleared up cases of adults sexually grooming children with a community resolution order.
In all, the tally included 29 sexual assaults on women aged 13 or over.
David Spencer, of the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: “The public will find it staggering that the CPS think it is appropriate to use community resolutions for serious sexual offences and particularly those towards children.
“Using community resolutions in this way must stop now.”
A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said: “Community resolutions help police handle low-level offending proportionately.
“Victims’ wishes are central to our decision-making. Our decisions are thoroughly examined by force scrutiny panels. Community resolutions are used in one per cent of sexual offence cases.”
‘The public will be staggered’