The number of people convicted or cautioned for possessing, making or distributing child abuse images has reached an all-time high.
A record 1,781 offenders were convicted or cautioned for the offences in 2010, the latest year for which figures are available, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said.
But a fifth of these were cautioned, including 155 offenders involved in taking, publishing, making or distributing indecent images of children.
The 2010 figure was the highest annual total on record, up from 1,731 in 2003, the MoJ said.
Jon Brown, the NSPCC's head of strategy for sexual abuse, said: "These figures confirm a deeply worrying trend in the number of offenders involved in this disturbing trade.
"While it's positive there has been an increase in convictions, this could also indicate that more and more people are viewing images of children, including babies, being sexually assaulted and raped.
"It's not unusual now for someone to be caught with hundreds of thousands of these sickening pictures which are an ever-lasting record of a child's torture."
He went on: "While the statistics show we are making headway we need to see an even greater effort from industry, police and child protection experts to combat this problem through deterrence, prevention and, where possible, the provision of treatment for the young victims."
In 2010, 1,246 offenders were found guilty of taking, publishing, making or distributing indecent images of children, the figures showed.
But a further 155 were cautioned for the same offence, and would have been placed on the sex offenders register for two years.
A further 165 were found guilty of the lesser offence of possessing child abuse images and another 215 were cautioned for this offence.
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "All sexual offences are abhorrent and that is why for cases of possessing, making or distributing indecent images of children that come to court, judges have the power to sentence criminals to up to 10 years in prison.
"Guidance to the police and CPS is clear that simple cautions should not normally be given for serious crimes such as sexual offences."
The figures, released following a request under the Freedom of Information Act by internet security expert John Carr, also showed 2010 had the highest number of convictions on record for taking, publishing, making or distributing indecent images of children - 1,246, compared with the previous high of 1,048 in 2003.
The rise in 2003 coincided with Operation Ore, the crackdown by police and prosecutors on internet paedophiles.