RAPISTS FREE TO WALK THE STREETS
Soft-touch justice fury as courts order sex offenders to work in communities
SERIOUS sex offenders are being let off with community service in the latest indictment of Scotland’s soft-touch courts. Shocking new figures show that people convicted of rape or attempted rape have been handed Community Payback Orders (CPOs).
Scores have also been spared prison despite having sexual assault convictions – undermining the Scottish Government’s ‘get tough’ crackdown on sex crime.
The widely criticised CPOs have been championed by the SNP as a way of easing the pressure on prisons, but many are being flouted.
Last night, there was alarm that thugs guilty of serious assaults and attempted murder are also escaping jail terms, dealing a further blow to the credibility of the justice system.
Scottish Tory chief whip John Lamont said: ‘This is yet more evidence of the SNP’s soft-touch approach on justice spreading through Scotland’s courts.
‘People will find it completely unacceptable that rapists and attempted murderers may never see the inside of a cell.
‘And as we know from other
research, so many criminals sentenced to community service never end up fulfilling the hours handed to them.’
The Scottish Government figures show five people convicted of ‘rape and attempted rape’ were handed CPOs in
013-14. The figures do not differentiate between rape and attempted rape – both are categorised together.
A further 91 found guilty of sexual assault were given the soft-touch orders which allow offenders to avoid jail in favour of community work.
The courts gave CPOs to another 87 people who were convicted of attempted murder and serious assault.
It emerged earlier this month that one in three criminals given a CPO instead of a prison sentence fails to complete it.
Last night, Rape Crisis Scotland also raised concern over the statistics and said that the leniency of the justice system risked adding to victims’ suffering.
A spokesman said: ‘It is important to highlight that penalties awarded for crimes as serious as rape and attempted rape reflect the gravity of those offences.
‘Survivors already face an uphill struggle in their efforts to obtain justice and it can take a huge amount of courage to report what has happened.
‘It is crucial that a clear message is sent to survivors and potential perpetrators of these crimes that the justice system treats rape very seriously.’
The row follows other official figures last month showing that only 41 per cent of those accused of rape were convicted in 013-14, down from 56 per cent the previous year – despite a major SNP drive to get justice for victims.
According to those figures, 87 convictions were secured out of 14 accused. The previous year there were 77 guilty verdicts out of 138.
The Mail revealed last month that killers and sex offenders are being handed shorter jail sentences under the SNP – while police wage a growing war on motorists.
Official data shows a 16 per cent reduction in the average length of jail terms for homicides since the SNP came to power in 007.
But the number of people charged with speeding is up 17 per cent in the space of 1 months, after Police Scotland launched a roads crackdown.
The average jail term for homicide – including culpable homicide and causing death by dangerous driving – fell from seven years and two months in
007-08 to six-and-a-half years in 01 -13, and to roughly six years in 013-14.
The figures do not include murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence.
For sex offences including rape, attempted rape and sexual assault, the latest average sentence has fallen to three years and four months, from around three-and-a-half years in 007-08.
Yesterday, a Scottish Government spokesman was unable to give any more information on the nature of the sex crimes which led to CPOs.
He said: ‘It is a matter for the presiding judge what sentence is appropriate depending on the circumstances of each individual case and it would clearly not be appropriate to speculate as to why any particular sentence is given.’
‘Crucial a clear message is sent’