One in five rapists and burglars let off with a caution!

More than one in five offenders who commit a serious crime get off with a caution, official figures have revealed.

They show police handed out more than 18,000 cautions for sexual offences and violent assaults in the last decade.

Some 22 per cent of all burglars, rapists and other violent attackers in England and Wales were given cautions.

A fifth of rapists and sexual offenders avoided court. And 28 per cent of people who committed a violent assault got off with a slap on the wrist.

Thieves had a 27 per cent chance of being handed a caution. Police also issued them to 40 per cent of fraudsters and 41 per cent of drug dealers or users.

The shocking figures were prepared by the House of Commons library following a Parliamentary question by Labour justice spokesman Sadiq Khan.

They will fuel concerns that police and public prosecutors are too overwhelmed to be able to properly punish serious crimes.

The information, released by police forces across England, shows there were 992 cautions for ‘indictable only offences’ in 2011. These are crimes considered so serious that they are usually tried at a Crown Court.

A staggering 232 of these were for sexual offences, 137 for violence, 269 for robbery and 18 for burglary. Since 2002, a total of 18,782 cautions were handed out for indictable offences.

Over the last ten years, this means sex offenders were let off 2,018 times. There were 4,364 cautions for violent assaults, 4,204 for robberies and 2,143 for burglaries.

Police cautions are a way of sanctioning criminals without taking them to court.

Last year more than 200,000 people who committed crimes were cautioned. The vast majority received a formal warning about their conduct.

Some receive a lesser, informal caution – a verbal warning given by an officer which does not count towards a criminal record. A formal caution will normally be given at a police station by an officer – but is not classed as a conviction.

It is administered when there is sufficient evidence for a prosecution and the subject has admitted guilt.

Many are concerned they are being used to deal with repeat offenders or people who have committed a serious crime.