A police force has been criticised after it emerged it handed out cautions for serious offences including rape, child abduction and soliciting to commit murder.
The police and crime commissioner, Tony Lloyd, has demanded answers from Greater Manchester police (GMP) after it was revealed that cautions were given out for hundreds of serious crimes over the past five years.
The figures were released under freedom of information legislation and revealed that the force had handed out 14 cautions for rape offences and a further 177 for a variety of sex crimes.
A caution requires an offender to admit their crime and is regarded as an official “slap on the wrist” and an alternative to a charge that would bring the perpetrator before a court.
Lloyd said: “On the face of it, it is clearly unacceptable that cautions should be issued for serious crimes such as rape. Taking this approach without a clear, transparent and justifiable rationale risks endangering public confidence in the way in which the police deal with the most serious of offences.
“Greater Manchester police now need to explain clearly to the public how it is that rapists have ended up with a slap on the wrist, and I will demand an explanation from the chief constable Ian Hopkins this week at my monthly public scrutiny forum.”
Half the rapists were handed a “conditional caution”, where they could be required to complete a course addressing their behaviour or make reparation to their victim to go along with an official warning, which would remain on their police record.
No minimum sentence applies to rape crimes although official guidelines for judges suggest a “starting point” of five years in prison before time is added or subtracted for aggravating or mitigating factors.
The MP for Blackley and Broughton, Graham Stringer, said the use of cautions for rape and sex offences was “completely inappropriate”.
He said: “There is a place for the police caution, but for rape and sexual assault it’s simply wrong.”
An analysis of the cautions handed out for 14 rape offences shows three were given to adults, two for the rape of a girl under 16 and another two for the rape of a girl under 13.
A further 11 cautions were given to boys for rape crimes, three of them in 2015-16 for raping under-13s.
It was also revealed that many more serious crimes ended in a caution, including robbery, gross bodily harm (GBH) and wounding.
The figures, released to the Manchester Evening News, showed 86 cautions were handed out for robbery; 81 for GBH; 149 for malicious wounding; 60 for racially or religiously aggravated common assault; 60 for indecent exposure; 33 for violent disorder; 26 for aggravated vehicle taking; 22 for arson endangering life; 18 for possessing a real or imitation firearm; 18 for supplying or offering to supply class A drugs; 16 for endangering the safety of an aircraft and 12 for child abduction.
A single caution was also recorded for other crimes such as soliciting to commit murder, perjury, misconduct in a public office, causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person, bigamy and aggravated burglary.
GMP issued nearly 32,831 cautions between 1 April 2011, and 31 March 2016. During the whole period, the most common offence for which a caution was handed out was assault occasioning actual bodily harm (5,123 cautions).
However, the figures showed the force uses the sanction less frequently now than in 2011-12, when 8,977 were handed out compared with 4,358 in 2015-16.
Assistant chief constable Rob Potts, of GMP, defended the force, saying cautions were handed out for serious offences under exceptional circumstances.
He added: “A police caution is a formal warning given by the police to deliver swift and effective justice that carries a deterrent effect and reduces the likelihood of reoffending. A police caution can also act as a record for possible reference in future criminal proceedings.
“Each offence is dealt with on an individual basis and when a decision to issue a caution is taken, all evidence is considered to ensure this is the most appropriate course of action.
“Cautions are normally issued for more minor offences but no two cases are the same and all the circumstances are taken into account.”
