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Crimes of Violence: Police Cautions

Volume 506: debated on Tuesday 23 February 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what proportion of incidents of (a) rape and (b) violence against the person reported in the last five years a caution was issued. (316491)

The requested data for the number of incidents of rape and violence against the person for each year from 2004-05 to 2008-09 are provided by the Ministry of Justice and shown in Tables A (rape offences) and B (violence against the person offences).

The number of offenders cautioned for offences of rape and violence against the person in England and Wales from 2004 to 2008 (latest available) are given in Tables A1 and B1 respectively.

Cautions and court proceedings data for 2009 are expected to be published in the autumn, 2010.

Table A: Reported offences for rape1, 2004-05 to 2008-09

Total number

2004-05

14,013

2005-06

14,443

2006-07

13,774

2007-08

12,639

2008-09

13,133

1 The Sexual Offences Act 2003 introduced in May 2004 altered the definition and coverage of sexual offences. A small number of offences continue to be recorded relating to offences repealed by the Act; while these may continue to be legitimately recorded for offences prior to May 2004 it is also possible that some may have been recorded in these old categories in error, so recent changes based on small numbers should be interpreted with caution.

Table A1: Cautions issued for offences of rape, England and Wales, 2004 to 20081, 2, 3

Total number

2004

40

2005

22

2006

24

2007

34

2008

36

1 The cautions statistics in table A1 relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. 2 From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and final warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Table B: Reported violence against the person offences, 2004-05 to 2008-09

Total number

2004-05

1,048,095

2005-06

1,059,585

2006-07

1,046,168

2007-08

961,175

2008-09

903,993

Table B1: Cautions issued for violence against the person offences, England and Wales, 2004 to 20081, 2, 3

Total number

2004

36,610

2005

51,020

2006

57,273

2007

52,334

2008

37,613

1 The cautions statistics given in table B1 relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. 2 From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and final warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.