Review launched as sex offence convictions drop
Labour says government cuts are "undermining" the justice system
The conviction rate for sexual offences in England and Wales dropped sharply in 2013, Ministry of Justice figures show.
Of 10,365 people prosecuted for this kind of offence in 2013,
55% pleaded guilty or were found guilty - down from 61% of those
prosecuted in 2012.
An investigation into the decline is to be launched by police and prosecutors, the BBC understands.
The figures also show 20 people were cautioned for rape in 2013 - up by four compared with 2012.
Of these, 17 were imposed on boys aged under 15; two were for boys aged between 15 and 17; and one was on a man.
All the victims in the cases were aged under 16.
The figures also reveal that the overall number of people
prosecuted for all offences has fallen to its lowest level for more than
40 years.
Last year, 1.4 million people were taken to court, fewer than
at any time since at least 1970 when 1.6 million suspects were
prosecuted.
Falling conviction rate
The decline has coincided with a rise in the use of cautions
and reprimands, though the number of such out-of-court disposals has
dropped steeply over the last decade.
Crimes recorded by police are also at their lowest level for more than 10 years.
The total number of prosecutions for sexual offences was up, with 988 more cases than in 2012, the figures show.
MoJ statisticians said the drop in the conviction rate
coincided with a rise in the number of sexual offences waiting to go to
court.
A spokesman said: "This increase could be because of the
nature of these types of cases, meaning that more time is often spent
building a case for the prosecution or defence, than with cases
involving other offence groups."
The review, which it is understood will commence in the next
few weeks, will also examine why the number of referrals of rape
allegations from police to prosecutors has dropped.
Figures obtained from a parliamentary answer in October
showed police sent 5,404 cases to the Crown Prosecution Service in
2012-13 but received more than 17,000 reports of rape.
No comments:
Post a Comment