‘7,000 paedophiles found guilty… 2,862 of them aren’t jailed’
Soft-touch judges are letting thousands of child sex offenders off with just a slap on the wrist.
Out of almost 7,000 paedophiles found guilty of sexual activity with children, a shocking 2,862 avoided prison – more than 40 per cent.
Most were given community sentences while 605 received suspended sentences and 41 got only a FINE. Another 1,700 sex offenders got away with police cautions last year, according to Government figures.
Those given cautions are more likely to face jail in future after guidelines to give victims the right to challenge police decisions through the courts were unveiled last week. But the muddled system was attacked by Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood.
He said: “A lot of the judiciary don’t understand the catastrophic nature of the crime and the damage it does. If more of them understood, they would say, ‘If you commit this crime you are going to jail for a long time.’”
The figures, uncovered by investigations agency OpenWorld News, show child sex prosecutions in England and Wales between 2005 and 2011.
Almost 6,941 defendants were sentenced for offences defined as sexual activity with a child under 13, with a child under 16, or gross indecency with a child. The numbers could be the tip of the iceberg as they don’t take into account offenders sentenced for other child sex crimes including porn, grooming and sexual assault, plus rape.
Alarmingly, more than 1,000 of those found guilty in crown and magistrates courts – one in seven – already had at least one conviction or a caution for a previous sex crime.
A total 429 of these had three or more previous convictions and cautions for sex offences.
Magistrates let the vast majority walk free with fines and suspended or community sentences.
Out of 844 sentenced only 80 were sent straight to prison – fewer than one in 10. Of the 6,097 offenders sentenced at crown court, more than a third avoided immediate custody.
In 2009 more than 4,000 child abusers went on to commit more than 1,200 further sex crimes, including 330 against children, within a year of being released from their previous sentences.
Mr Saunders, himself a survivor of abuse, added: “A child sex offence is the most vile thing an adult can do to a child – we have to tackle it with the full force of the law.”
Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said: “The toughest sentences are available to the courts for those who commit the most serious offences.
“Alongside that the Government is working closely with the police and other criminal justice agencies to review the use of cautions.
Listed below are: links to some of the most lenient judges towards paedophiles in the UK – click any link to view their substantial shame for not punishing vile and evil acts towards children
HUNDREDS of paedophiles were let off with cautions last year rather than being put before a court, figures show.
Statistics from the 44 police forces in England and Wales show that nearly 10 per cent of child sex attackers, including rapists, are allowed to walk free.
When the figures for those accused of child neglect or child cruelty are factored in, then more than 25 per cent of offenders who abuse children were let off with a caution.
The data shows that in the last financial year 5,192 people were charged and put before the courts for child sex offences but another 440 received a caution. These included 25 people who admitted raping girls and eight who committed the same offence on underage boys.
A total of 75 were cautioned for sexually assaulting girls aged under 14, while 13 received he same “punishment” for molesting boys of a similar age. The largest number of cautions was seven in Lincolnshire, followed by five in Greater Manchester and four in Devon and Cornwall.
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