Rapists and burglars are let off hook as suspects prosecuted in 6% of crimes
Just one in 16 crimes resulted in a suspect being charged or summoned last year, damning new data shows.
Ministers have been accused of "failing" victims after the Home Office revealed just 5.9% of cases reported to police in England and Wales led to a prosecution. And the picture was even worse for rape cases, with just one in 40 victims seeing their alleged attacker summonsed or charged.
Figures published today revealed that 3.9% of sexual offences, including 2.4% of rapes, 4% of home burglaries, 5.3% of violent incidents and 6.3% of robberies resulted in a charge or summons. In the year to September 2.18million cases were shut without a suspect being identified.
It has sparked calls for the Government to "get a grip", with new figures showing sex offences have gone up by 17% since 2020, knife crime up by 5% in a year and robberies rising by 12%.
Rachel Almeida, assistant director at charity Victim Support told The Mirror: “These figures show that the justice process is not working as well as it should. Too many victims of crime are not getting the justice they deserve and this must change."
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And she continued that police and the wider justice system must be given the resources they need to turn the figures around. Ms Almeida added: "Without improvements, we risk victims and the public losing faith in the criminal justice process.”
Labour Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the number of cases dropped has reached record highs and added: "Enough is enough. Britain cannot afford more of this damaging decline from the Conservatives."
And Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: “The Conservative Government has totally failed to get a handle on crime, and they have no one but themselves to blame. For years, they have taken resources out of frontline policing at the expense of our communities. It’s no surprise that more and more criminals are getting away with it as victims are left without justice. This farce needs to end."
He accused the Tories of overseeing a decline in neighbourhood policing. On average 5,981 investigations were shut without identifying a suspect every day, analysis showed.
Charge and summons rates were higher for possession of weapons, with 27.2%, and drug offences, with 19.5%.
It comes as data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed a total of 8.5million alleged crimes were reported to police in England and Wales in the year to September.
These included almost 200,000 sex offences, including nearly 68,000 rapes - up a massive 17% since 2020. There was also a 32% rise in shoplifting reports, fuelling a spike in overall theft cases overall. Robbery cases went up by 12%, the ONS data shows.
Knife crime also rose in England and Wales, with almost 50,000 cases recorded in a year. It comes as ministers face intense pressure to deal with the knife crime epidemic, which claimed 247 lives last year. Latest data shows there were 48,716 knife offences reported to 41 of the 43 police forces in the 12 months to September - up 5% compared to the previous year. These included over 22,000 assaults using knives that resulted in injury.
Chilling data also shows a rise in gun crime, with 6,233 offences recorded in the same timeframe. Overall there were 591 homicides recorded in 12 months, down from 651 the previous year.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: “In general terms, charging decisions are for the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service). It’s not right for me to comment specifically.
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"On rape cases we do know that enough has not been done and that is why we set out a very detailed Rape Action Plan which is having an impact. Of course there is much more to do and the Home Office and the Police are very committed to that work.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “Since 2010, we have more police and our communities are safer. Neighbourhood crimes including burglary, robbery and theft down 48% and violent crime down 51%. We expect police to take all crime seriously and investigate thoroughly to ensure perpetrators are charged and brought to justice, which is why we welcomed the commitment made by police in August to follow up on all reasonable lines of enquiry."
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