Figures revealed by Lincolnshire Police show that 366 crimes were resolved using community resolutions last year of which 143 were for incidents involving violence without injury. The other 223 cases included the sexual assault of a young child alongside a religiously aggravated assault with numerous other violent incidents involving injury. These cases were dealt with by tactics including offenders apologising to victims, paying compensation, or other informal means of settlement.
According to the Guidelines on the use Community Resolutions, community resolution should only be considered if:
- The offender accepts responsibility for their actions and agrees to participate.
- The victim has been consulted and given consent. However in certain cases, such as in the absence of a victim, consent is not needed.
- It is a less serious offence such as low-level theft, damage or assault.
- The offender must also have no relevant offending history.
While there is no specific number given for sexual offences resolved using community resolutions, statistics show that there were a total of 10,648 violent crimes handled by Lincolnshire Police in the same time frame between 2017 and 2018 meaning that there was a total of 3.4% of violent and sexual crimes which were resolved in through community resolution. However, the number of resolutions of sexual and violent crimes using this method has risen by 8% since the previous year, compared to a 7% decrease on a national level between 2017/18 and 2016/17.
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