CSEW) in the Same Period

UK Data Archive Study Number 7280 - Crime Survey for England and Wales: Secure Access 27 November 2014

About this Release: Focus on Property Crime, 2013/14

Coverage: England and Wales Date: 27 November 2014 Geographical Area: Country Theme: Crime and Justice

Key points

• Property crime covers a range of criminal activities where the aim is to either steal property or to cause damage to it. It is an important driver of overall crime, accounting for 70% of all police recorded crime in 2013/14 and 82% of all incidents measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) in the same period. • Property crime has seen marked reductions since peak levels in the 1990s, with falls seen across both main measures of crime. The CSEW indicates that while there have been long term declines across most types of property crime, the falls have been most pronounced in vehicle- related theft and domestic burglary. • Cash and wallets/purses continue to be stolen in a high proportion of theft offences. However, as more people carry valuable electronic gadgets, these too have become desirable targets. For example, the latest data from the CSEW indicate that about half of theft from the person incidents involved the theft of a mobile phone. • The value of items is an important factor in driving trends in theft. Metal theft provides a good example of this, with increases seen between 2009/10 and 2011/12, which corresponded with a spike in metal commodity prices. However, the most recent metal theft data from the police show that levels are falling, with the 40,680 offences recorded during 2013/14 representing a decrease of around a third compared with 2012/13. • The 2013/14 CSEW showed that 5.1% of plastic card owners were victims of card fraud in the previous year, a much higher rate of victimisation than traditional offences such as theft from the person (1.1%). • Younger age groups were more likely to be victims than older age groups in all property crime types, according to the 2013/14 CSEW. Across all types of property crime those living in urban areas were more likely to have been victims than those living in rural areas. • The likelihood of victimisation based on other characteristics such as employment status, occupation and household income varied for different crime types. For example, households where the reference person was unemployed (5.8%) were over twice as likely to be victims of domestic burglary compared with those where the reference person was in employment (2.7%) or economically inactive (2.3%).

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• Students were more likely to be victims of property crime than those in other groups. This was true for a number of crime types, including bicycle theft and theft from the person.

Introduction

This release is the first of three annual ‘Focus on’ publications produced through collaboration between ONS and Home Office analysts. It explores a variety of official statistics on property crime, and is based on interviews carried out on the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) in the year to March 2014 and crimes recorded by the police period over the same period. Trend analysis from both sources is included.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of property crime recorded by the police and property crimes measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). As well as covering trends in property crime, the chapter also discusses CSEW data contained within the ‘Nature of property crime’ tables published alongside this release, which provide more detailed information on crimes measured by the survey. The chapter also presents some statistics on property crimes against businesses based on the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS).

Chapter 2 looks at metal theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales over the last two years. It looks into how metal theft rates vary across regions and includes a breakdown of the statistics by police force area. It and also provides a breakdown of metal theft offences by offence category for a subset of police forces.

The Data sources and references section and User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales give more details on each of the sources used in this release.

Background notes

1. A list of the organisations given pre-publication access to the contents of this bulletin can be found on ONS’ website.

2. In accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, statistics based on police recorded crime data have been assessed against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and found not to meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics. The full assessment report can be found on the UK Statistics Authority website.

3. Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available by visiting www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html or from the Media Relations Office email: [email protected]

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs;

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• are well explained and readily accessible; • are produced according to sound methods; and • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

You may use or re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected].

This document is also available on our website at www.ons.gov.uk.

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Chapter 1: Property Crime - Overview

Coverage: England and Wales Date: 27 November 2014 Geographical Area: Country Theme: Crime and Justice

Introduction

This overview chapter covers statistics on property crime recorded by the police1 and property crimes measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). As well as covering trends in property crime, the chapter also discusses CSEW data contained within the ‘Nature of Crime’ tables published alongside this release, which provide more detailed information on crimes measured by the survey. The chapter also presents some statistics on property crimes against businesses based on the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS). For further information on each of these sources, see the ‘Data Sources and References’ section of this release.

Property crime is defined as incidents where individuals, households or corporate bodies are deprived of their property by illegal means or where their property is damaged. It includes offences of burglary and other household theft; vehicle offences (which include theft of vehicles or property from vehicles); bicycle theft; robbery and other personal theft; shoplifting; fraud; and criminal damage. For the purposes of this report, robbery2 is included as a property crime.

Following an assessment of ONS crime statistics by the UK Statistics Authority, the statistics based on police recorded crime data have been found not to meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics. The full assessment report can be found on the UK Statistics Authority website. Data from the CSEW continue to be badged as National Statistics; data from the CVS are classed as Official Statistics as they have not yet been assessed for National Statistics status. ONS are working to address the requirements set out by the UK Statistics Authority and a summary of progress is available on the Crime statistics methodology page.

Property crime accounted for 70% (2,620,175 offences) of all police recorded crime in 2013/14 and 82% (an estimated 6,006,000 incidents) of all crime covered by the 2013/14 CSEW. Of the crimes covered by the CVS, in both the 2012 and 2013 CVS 91% were property related (an estimated 8,365,000 offences in the 2012 survey and 6,202,000 offences in the 2013 survey). The consistently high proportion of offences accounted for by property crime means that these types of crimes, in particular the high volume ones such as vehicle-related theft, criminal damage and burglary, are important in driving overall crime trends.

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The largest component of property crime in the 2013/14 CSEW was criminal damage (24%). Other components that made up CSEW property crime include: ‘other’ theft of personal property (which is largely theft of unattended property; 16%); vehicle-related theft (16%); domestic burglary (13%); and ‘other’ household theft (that is, theft from a dwelling by someone entitled to be there or theft from outside a dwelling; 13%). For a full breakdown, see Figure 1.1.

This breakdown of offence types has seen some notable changes over time. The largest component at the 1995 peak in crime was vehicle-related theft, which made up 28% of CSEW property crime. Other components included: criminal damage (22%); domestic burglary (16%); and ‘other’ theft of personal property (14%). For a full breakdown, see Figure 1.1.

Comparing the composition of property crime in 1995 to the 2013/14 survey, the most noticeable difference is in vehicle-related theft, which has dropped from an estimated 4.2 million offences in 1995 (making up 28% of property crime) to an estimated 0.9 million offences in the 2013/14 survey (making up 16% of property crime). Domestic burglary also dropped substantially between 1995 (an estimated 2.4 million offences) and the 2013/14 survey (an estimated 0.8 million offences) and is the only other category to make up a larger proportion of property crime in 1995 compared with the 2013/14 survey (16% and 13% respectively); all others made up a higher proportion in the 2013/14 survey. This can be attributed to the large falls in vehicle-related theft and domestic burglary over this period and that other types of property crime have not seen the same level of reduction as these higher volume crimes.

Figure 1.1: Composition of CSEW property crime, 1995 and 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics 2. Click on image to enlarge the chart

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Concerning the profile of offences recorded by the police, in 2013/14 ‘other’ theft offences (20%) and criminal damage and arson (19%) were the two largest components of police recorded property crime, similar to the 2013/14 CSEW. Theft from the person (4%), bicycle theft (4%) and robbery (2%) collectively accounted for a small proportion of all police recorded property crime. For a full breakdown, see Figure 1.2.

In most respects, the profile of property crime recorded by the police has not substantially changed. However, comparing the composition of police recorded property crime in 2002/03 to 2013/14, the most noticeable difference is in vehicle offences, which made up 22% of property crime in 2002/03 and 14% in 2013/14; this drop is consistent with CSEW data. Shoplifting made up a larger proportion of property crime in 2013/14 (12%) than in 2002/03 (6%), although the number of shoplifting offences recorded by the police remained roughly the same (321,014 in 2013/14 compared with 310,881 in 2002/03).

Figure 1.2: Composition of police recorded property crime, 2002/03 and 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. Fraud offences were recorded by Action Fraud in 2013/14. 4. Click on image to enlarge the chart

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Owing to a change in recording practices brought about by the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard3 (NCRS) in April 2002, it is not possible to make direct long-term comparisons of police recorded crime prior to 2002/03.

The population, offence coverage and volume of offences differ between the CSEW and police recorded crime, so Figures 1.1 and 1.2 are not directly comparable.

Notes for Introduction

1. Police recorded crime data presented in this chapter are those notified to the Home Office and were recorded in the Home Office database on 4 September 2014 2. Robbery is an offence in which violence or the threat of violence is used during a theft (or attempted theft) and is reported as a separate, standalone category in both the police recorded crime and CSEW data series. As robbery contains an element of theft, it is included within this ‘Focus on: Property crime’ publication. 3. The NCRS, introduced in April 2002, was designed to ensure greater consistency between forces in recording crime and to take a more victim-oriented approach to crime recording, with the police being required to record any allegation of crime unless there was credible evidence to the contrary.

Trends in CSEW property crime

The proportion of all Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) crime accounted for by property crime has remained relatively stable over time; it has comprised at least 80% since the survey began. This makes property crime an important driver in overall CSEW trends. Thus, the long-term trend for property crime is consistent with the long-term trend in total CSEW crime, having shown steady increases from 1981 when the survey started, peaking in 1995, followed by steady declines since that peak. Levels observed in the 2013/14 CSEW have fallen by over 60% since 1995 (Figure 1.3). This trend is consistent with that seen in many other countries (Tseloni et al., 2010).

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Figure 1.3: Long-term trends in total CSEW crime and CSEW property crime, 1981 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics 2. Prior to 2001/02, CSEW respondents were asked about their experience of crime in the previous calendar year, so year-labels identify the year in which the crime took place. Following the change to continuous interviewing, respondents' experience of crime relates to the full 12 months prior to interview (i.e. a moving reference period), so year-labels from 2001/02 onwards identify the CSEW year of interview.

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Most of the higher volume crime types show a similar trend to overall CSEW property crime with levels peaking in either 1993 or 1995, followed by a general decline from the peaks to the 2013/14 CSEW. Figure 1.4 shows the long term trends for CSEW criminal damage, ‘other’ theft of personal property1, vehicle-related theft and domestic burglary from 1981 to 2013/14.

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Figure 1.4: Long-term trends in CSEW criminal damage, other theft of personal property, vehicle-related theft and domestic burglary, 1981 to 2013/14

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Figure 1.5 shows the long term trends in CSEW ‘other’ household theft2, theft from the person3, bicycle theft and robbery from 1981 to 2013/14. These crime types have shown somewhat different trends compared with that seen for overall CSEW property crime (Figure 1.3):

• After peaking in 1993 and then declining until around the mid-2000s, there was an underlying upward trend in ‘other’ household theft, which increased by 44% between the 2007/08 and 2011/12 surveys. However, the 2013/14 estimate has decreased to a level similar to that seen in 2007/08. • The trend in theft from the person has remained relatively flat since the mid-1990s, with recent levels remaining larger than those seen in the 1980s and early 1990s.

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• After peaking in 1995 and then declining until around the early-2000s, the trend in bicycle theft has been a general increase since 2002/03 (as opposed to a general decline). Albeit, the 2013/14 estimate has decreased to around the same level seen in 2002/03. • Robbery has remained a low volume offence across the history of the survey, typically accounting for around 2-3% of CSEW property crime. Levels fluctuated from year to year and showed a small upward trend during the 1990s, peaking in the 1999 survey, before falling to levels similar to those seen in the 1980s.

Figure 1.5: Long-term trends in CSEW other household theft, theft from the person, bicycle theft and robbery, 1981 to 2013/14

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Notes

1. Thefts, including attempts, of unattended property (that is, not being held or carried by someone).

2. Thefts from inside a dwelling by someone who had the right to be there (in contrast to domestic burglary, where the offender did not have the right to be there) and thefts from outside a dwelling.

3. Thefts of property being held or carried by someone, but no or minimal force is used (in contrast to robbery, where non-minimal force, or the threat of, is used).

Trends in police recorded property crime

Following changes to the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) in 1998 and the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in 2002, police recorded crime data from 2002/03 onwards are not directly comparable with earlier years. However, general long-term trends in property crime are not likely to have been substantially affected by these changes1. The trend in police recorded property crime has been similar to that seen for the CSEW, rising during the 1980s before peaking in the 1990s and showing gradual decreases for the majority of the 2000s and beyond (Figures 1.3 and 1.6).

Since 2002/03 (the earliest period for which data are directly comparable), as with crime measured by the CSEW, the trend in police recorded property crime is similar to the trend for all police recorded crime. Property crime has shown year-on-year falls and was 46% lower in volume in 2013/14 (2,620,175 offences) than in 2002/03 (4,821,745 offences). This represents a faster rate of reduction than overall police recorded crime which fell by 38% over the same period. Thus, the proportion of total police recorded crime accounted for by property crime2 has decreased by 10 percentage points; from 81% in 2002/03 to 70% in 2013/14. Reflecting this change, the relative contribution of other crime types have increased slightly over this period; the biggest being violence against the person, with an increase of five percentage points (from 12% in 2002/03 to 17% in 2013/14).

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Figure 1.6: Trends in total police recorded crime and police recorded property crime, 1981 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. Following changes to the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) in 1998 and the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in 2002, data from 2002/03 onwards are not directly comparable with earlier years; nor are data between 1998/99 and 2001/02 directly comparable with data prior to 1998/99.

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With regard to specific property crime types covered in this chapter, discussions of trends have been restricted to the period 2002/03 to 2013/14, where data are directly comparable.

Police recorded vehicle offences and burglary have shown the largest decreases in volume over the last decade, similar to the CSEW; vehicle offences were down by 65% (702,629 offences) between 2002/03 and 2013/14 and burglary was down by 50% (446,914 offences) over the same period (Figure 1.7).

‘(All) other theft offences’ – which comprises mainly of theft of unattended property – showed a 6% decrease in 2013/14 compared with the previous year. This is in contrast with a recent upward trend recorded by the police between 2009/10 and 2011/12, which followed a longer downward trend between 2003/04 and 2009/10 (Figure 1.7).

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Within ‘(All) other theft offences’, the largest single offence classification is ‘Other theft’. This sub-category, in addition to theft of unattended personal items (such as a mobile phone left on a pub table), includes crimes against organisations which are not covered by the CSEW, such as theft of metal or industrial equipment. However, it is not possible to separately identify thefts against businesses in centrally held police recorded crime data (this type of crime is covered by the Commercial Victimisation Survey). ‘Other theft’ offences saw a 7% decrease in 2013/14 compared with the previous year and this followed a 13% increase between 2009/10 and 2011/12. This initial rise is likely to have been caused in part by a surge in metal theft over this period, which corresponds with a spike in world commodity prices. Some more recent evidence3 suggests that such offences are now decreasing and should be seen in the context of new metal theft legislation. The legislation came into force in May 2013, which increased fines for existing offences under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964, and introduced a new offence for dealers of paying for scrap metal in cash.

Police forces have been required to submit a special data return on offences involving metal theft to the Home Office since April 2012. For more detailed information on metal theft offences recorded by the police in 2012/13 and 2013/14, see ‘Chapter 2: Metal theft’ of this release.

Figure 1.7: Trends in selected police recorded theft offences, 2002/03 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

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Shoplifting

While there has been no overall increase in crime, there has been some upward pressure on some specific crime types, such as theft of unattended items (including shoplifting).

The longer term trend in shoplifting recorded by the police is different from that seen for other theft offences. While most theft offences saw steady declines in the number of crimes recorded by the police over much of the last decade, levels of recorded shoplifting showed comparatively little change over this time. There has, though, been interest surrounding the recent increase seen in shoplifting offences recorded by the police in 2013/14.

Shoplifting accounted for 9% of all police recorded crime in 2013/14, with 321,014 offences recorded. The number of police recorded shoplifting offences in 2013/14 showed a 7% increase compared with the previous year and is the highest since the introduction of the NCRS in 2002/03 (Figure 1.8).

The typically low rate of reporting to the police presents challenges in interpreting trends in police recorded shoplifting. There are a number of factors that should be considered, including:

• a potential increase in reporting, whereby retailers may adopt new strategies or approaches to deal with shoplifters (such as one announced by the Cooperative supermarket chain4), which in turn means the police record more shoplifting offences; • changes to police recording practices; while there is no specific evidence to suggest there has been a recent change in the recording of shoplifting offences, it is not possible to rule this out; and • a real increase in the number of shoplifting offences being committed.

Anecdotal evidence5 from some police forces suggests that the rise in police recorded shoplifting offences is likely to be a real increase in reporting rather than any change in police recording practice. Shoplifting is also less likely than other types of offence to be affected by changes in police recording practices. Ministry of Justice statistics additionally show a recent rise in the number of offenders being prosecuted for shoplifting at magistrates’ courts.

Findings from recent surveys of the retail sector have been mixed. The 2013 Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) showed no statistically significant change in the estimated level of shoplifting compared with the 2012 survey, while a British Retail Consortium (BRC) survey indicated that their members were experiencing higher levels of shoplifting.

The 2013 CVS provides a measure of shoplifting (referred to in the survey as ‘Theft by customers’) which includes crimes not reported to the police. The 2013 survey estimated that there were 3.3 million incidents of theft by customers in the wholesale and retail sector; this is over 10 times the number of shoplifting offences recorded by the police. This reflects the fact that most incidents of shoplifting do not come to the attention of the police. As such, recorded crime figures for this type of offence are highly dependent on whether the businesses report the incidents to the police.

Theft from the person

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Theft from the person involves offences where there is theft of property, while the property is being carried by, or on the person of, the victim. These include snatch thefts (where an element of force may be used to snatch the property away) and stealth thefts (where the victim is unaware of the offence being committed, for example, pick-pocketing). Unlike robbery, these offences do not involve violence or threats to the victim.

The longer term trend in theft from the person recorded by the police is different from that seen for other theft offences. While most theft offences saw steady declines in the number of crimes recorded by the police over much of the last decade, levels of recorded theft from the person generally declined between 2002/03 and 2008/09, before increasing year-on-year between 2008/09 and 2012/13. However, the latest police figures in 2013/14 reverse the trend of year-on-year increases seen between 2008/09 and 2012/13.

The number of police recorded theft from the person offences in 2013/14 showed a 10% decrease compared with the previous year; this is in contrast to the 9% increase in 2012/13 compared with 2011/12. Between 2008/09 and 2012/13, there was an average annual increase of 5% in theft from the person offences recorded by the police (Figure 1.8).

It is thought that the increase seen between 2008/09 and 2012/13 may be due to people carrying more valuable items on their person than previously, such as more advanced smartphones and tablet computers which attract high value in the stolen goods market. Analysis conducted on London-specific data during the period August 2012 to January 2014 in a recent Home Office research paper 'Reducing mobile phone theft and improving security' indicates that certain smartphones are significantly more likely to be targeted.

The Home Office research paper suggests that the release of a new operating system for mobile devices (iOS7) in September 2013, that introduced enhancements in security, is likely to have contributed to the substantial reduction in mobile phone thefts in London. If this effect was replicated across the whole of England and Wales, it may help to explain the 10% decrease in theft from the person offences recorded by the police in 2013/14 compared with the previous year.

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Figure 1.8: Trends in police recorded shoplifting and theft from the person offences, 2002/03 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

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Notes

1. Changes to the HOCR and the introduction of the NCRS had a greater impact on the number of violent crimes recorded by the police; see Section 5.1 of the User Guide for more information.

2. Including robbery.

3. For example, Network Rail have reported decreases in the number of incidents of cable theft affecting rail passengers between 2010/11 and 2013/14, with a substantial drop between 2011/12 (845 incidents) and 2012/13 (287 incidents).

4. As reported in the Nottingham Post, 18 December 2013.

5. For example, as reported in The Guardian, 23 January 2014.

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Existing theories on why property crime has fallen

The reduction in property crime has been an important factor in driving falls in overall crime. There is broad support for the view that increased quality of building and vehicle security has been an important factor in the reduction in property crime. This concept of ‘target-hardening’ – making targets (that is, anything that an offender would want to steal or damage) more resistant to attack – is likely to deter offenders from committing crime (Cornish and Clarke, 2003). Findings from the CSEW add some evidence in support of this, indicating that alongside the falls in property crime, there were also improvements in household and vehicle security.

Since 19951, there have been statistically significant increases in the proportion of households in the 2013/14 CSEW (‘Nature of Crime’ table 3.12 (406 Kb Excel sheet)) with:

• window locks (up 21 percentage points from 68% to 89% of households); • light timers/sensors (up 16 percentage points from 39% to 55% of households); • double/dead locks (up 12 percentage points from 70% to 82% of households); and • burglar alarms (up 10 percentage points from 20% to 30% of households).

Over the last decade there have also been statistically significant reductions in vehicle-related theft resulting from offenders gaining entry by forcing locks (35% of vehicle-related theft incidents in the 2004/05 CSEW; 14% in the 2013/14 survey) or breaking windows (45% of vehicle-related theft incidents in the 2004/05 CSEW; 24% in the 2013/14 survey).

There have been a large number of theories put forward to explain the reduction in property crime; many of them are contested and subject to continuing discussion and debate. Some of these include:

• Burglary and vehicle-related theft are considered to be ‘keystone’ crimes, which are thought to facilitate and encourage other types of crime and more serious crime. If ‘keystone crimes’ are more difficult to carry out (due to improved security for example), young people may never take part in criminal activity (Farrell et al., 2010). • The rise in the use of the internet has roughly coincided with falls in crime (in 1995 use of the internet was not widespread). As it became more popular, it may have helped to occupy young people’s time when they may otherwise have turned to crime. It also provides more opportunity for online crime which is not as easily quantifiable at present as traditional crime types (Farrell et al., 2011). • Reduced consumption of drugs and alcohol is likely to have resulted in a drop in offending (Bunge et al., 2005). A recent Home Office research paper 'The heroin epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s and its effect on crime trends - then and now' supports the notion that the changing levels of opiate and crack-cocaine use have affected acquisitive crime trends in England and Wales, potentially explaining over half of the rise in crime in the 1980s to mid-1990s and between a quarter and a third of the fall in crime since the mid-1990s. • Significant improvements in forensic and other crime scene investigation techniques and record keeping, such as fingerprinting and DNA testing may have led to a reduction in crime. Given the prominence of these advancements, perceived risk to offenders may have increased, inducing a deterrent effect (Farrell et al., 2010).

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• The introduction of legalised abortion, which meant that more children who might have been born into families in poverty or troubled environments and be more prone to get drawn into criminality, would not be born and therefore be unable to commit these crimes (Donohue and Levitt, 2001). • Changes (real or perceived) in technology and infrastructure, including security technology such as CCTV, are likely to act as deterrents to committing crime (Welsh and Farrington, 2008). • Demographic changes, such as falling numbers of young men (who are most likely to commit crime) in the population may have contributed to a reduction in crime (Fox, 2011). • The impacts of longer prison sentences and police activity on reducing crime, particularly property crimes, are likely to act as deterrents (Bandyopadhyay et al., 2012).

Many believed the recession in the early 1980s and the resulting unemployment, particularly concentrated in the young male population, was linked to the increase in crime seen throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. It was therefore predicted that the onset of recession in 2008/09 would result in an increase in crime, particularly in property crimes such as burglaries, thefts and robberies. There have, however, despite some increases seen in specific offences (for example, CSEW ‘other’ household theft between 2007/08 and 2011/12) been no such widespread increases apparent in either total police recorded property crime or CSEW property crime.

Notes

1. Sourced from ‘Nature of burglary, 2007/08’ tables (the latest published data on home security measures from the 1996 CSEW).

Fraud

The extent of fraud is difficult to measure because it is a deceptive crime, often targeted at organisations rather than individuals. Some victims of fraud may be unaware they have been a victim of crime, or that any fraudulent activity has occurred. As a result, many incidents of fraud may not be reported to the police or recalled by survey respondents. Fraud is also inherently different from other crimes in that one fraud offence can potentially affect thousands of victims. It may also be difficult to ascertain where the offence originated or took place (if, for example, it took place via the internet).

Measuring fraud using the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)

Fraud is not included in the main CSEW crime estimates. However, the CSEW includes supplementary modules of questions on victimisation across a range of fraud and cyber-crime offences, including plastic card and bank/building society fraud. These are currently reported separately from the headline estimates.

The 2013/14 CSEW showed that 5.1% of plastic card owners were victims of card fraud in the previous year, with a statistically significant rise from the 4.6% estimated in the 2012/13 CSEW. Before that, there had been small reductions in levels of plastic card fraud over the last few years, following a rise between the 2005/06 (when the questions were first asked) and 2008/09 surveys. The current increased level of victimisation remains higher than more established offences such as theft from the person and ‘other’ theft of personal property (1.1% and 1.9% respectively).

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Separate analysis (based on the 2012/13 CSEW) showed that together, plastic card fraud and bank and building society fraud could have contributed between 3.6 and 3.8 million incidents of crime to the total number of CSEW crimes in this survey year. These numbers provide an approximate indication of the scale of these offences that are not covered in the headline estimates each year. However, these are based on some simple assumptions given the current absence of data on the number of times respondents fell victim within the crime reference period.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is currently conducting some work exploring the feasibility of extending the main victimisation module in the CSEW to cover elements of fraud and cyber- crime. This work includes developing and cognitively testing questions for inclusion in the survey and fieldwork piloting. It will also include examining what impact adding such questions may have on existing questionnaire length and on existing time series. This work will be extensive and is expected to run throughout most of 2014 with the aim of questions being implemented in the 2015/16 questionnaire. For more information, see the methodological note 'Work to extend the Crime Survey for England and Wales to include fraud and cyber crime'.

There are a wide range of associated conceptual challenges that need to be addressed, which include:

• Counting incidents – plastic card or bank account fraud often involve separate ‘events’ (for example, card purchases at different retailers on different days) and a clear set of rules for counting incidents would need to be established. These need to be conceptually sound, but practical in terms of respondents being able to recall and group, or separate, such events into individual incidents. • Identifying and counting victims – for example, in areas such as bank and credit card (cyber- enabled) fraud, there may be ambiguity about the victim. It is unclear whether the victim is the bank or financial institution who suffers the loss, or the customer. • Identifying where the crime took place – while it is often possible to identify where the victim or victims reside, it is often not possible to identify where the offence originated (and only those which take place within England and Wales should be counted). • The means for criminals to attempt to commit this type of crime on a grand scale – a single act of uploading a computer virus or sending a malicious e-mail may impact on thousands of people and could (in theory) result in thousands of crimes being recorded.

Recent changes to police recorded fraud

There have been a number of recent changes to the presentation of fraud in ONS’ crime statistics publications. These reflect changes in operational arrangements for reporting and recording of fraud with the police recorded crime series now including offences recorded by Action Fraud. This is a public facing national reporting centre that records incidents reported directly to them from the public and other organisations.

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the remaining transferring by the end of March 20132. From 2013/14 onwards, all fraud figures encompass all police recorded fraud under Action Fraud3.

The move to centralised recording of fraud makes comparisons over time problematic. Although, in 2013/14, there was an increase of 17% in recorded fraud offences compared with the previous year (211,292 offences; up from 179,891 in 2012/13), there are a number of factors that may have contributed to this increase including:

• the centralisation of recording fraud and a possible improvement in recording practices resulting from having a specialist team dealing with fraud; • a possible increased proportion of victims reporting fraud following publicity around the launch of Action Fraud; • availability of online reporting tools to facilitate reporting of fraud offences to Action Fraud; and • a possible increase in the volume of fraud.

It is not currently possible to separate out, or quantify the scale of each possible factor. It is hoped that a clearer picture will soon emerge, once the new recording arrangements have matured. It will only be in 2014/15 (data for which are due to be published in July 2015) that all effects of the transition will no longer be a factor when considering the year on year changes.

The level of fraud reported to the police / Action Fraud is thought to significantly understate the true level of such crime.

Fraud offences reported by industry bodies

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) also collect data on fraud direct from industry bodies. The NFIB are based at the City of London Police, who lead national policing on fraud.

The NFIB currently receive data from two industry bodies:

In addition, users should also be aware that the NFIB data sourced from industry bodies cover the UK as a whole, while all other data refer to England and Wales. However, the NFIB data does provide additional context to official statistics on crime.

In addition to the offences recorded by Action Fraud, the NFIB received 333,672 reports of fraud in the UK in the year ending March 2014 from industry bodies CIFAS and FFA UK; this represents a 2% increase from the previous year (326,609 reports).

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Of the fraud offences reported by those bodies, 85% were in the category of ‘banking and credit industry fraud’ (282,199). This category includes fraud involving plastic cards, cheques and online bank accounts which accounted for the majority of the offences recorded in the year ending March 2014. The category also covers payment-related frauds under the sub-category ‘Application Fraud’ which includes offences that occurred outside of the banking sector; for example, fraudulent applications made in relation to hire purchase agreements, as well as to insurance, telecommunications or retail companies, or public sector organisations.

For further information on fraud, see ‘Data Source and References’ within this release.

Notes

1. Police forces continue to record forgery offences, which fall under ‘Other crimes against society’ and are not included under ‘Fraud offences’; see Section 5.4 of the User Guide for more information.

2. For more information regarding the date when each police force transferred responsibility to Action Fraud see Section 5.4 of the User Guide.

3. Although Action Fraud had taken over the recording of all fraud offences from police forces by the end of 2012/13, there were 65 cases in 2013/14 where police forces recorded a fraud offence. This is a consequence of the transition process, and these cases are likely to be revised in the future.

Property crime against children aged 10-15

Based on Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) in the year ending March 2014, there were an estimated 322,000 incidents of personal theft and 43,000 incidents of criminal damage to personal property experienced by children aged 10 to 151. Around 70% of the thefts were classified as ‘Other theft of personal property’ (225,000 incidents), which includes thefts of unattended property.

It is difficult to ascertain any clear trend within the estimates for property crime experienced by children aged 10 to 15 as data are only available from 2009/10 onwards. The relatively small number of children aged 10 to 15 interviewed by the CSEW means that the estimates for crime experienced by children aged 10 to 15 are much more prone to year-on-year fluctuation than estimates from the CSEW for adults aged 16 and over.

Notes

1. Based on the preferred measure of crime. More information about the preferred and broad measures of crime against children aged 10 to 15 can be found in Section 2.5 of the User Guide.

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Levels of victimisation

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) provides estimates of victimisation rates for the crimes that it covers, and these vary by property crime type (Figure 1.9). In the 2013/14 CSEW, 4.3% of vehicle-owning households had experienced vehicle-related theft and 4.2% of households had experienced criminal damage. In contrast, 1.1% of adults had been a victim of theft from the person and 0.3% had been a victim of robbery. Some 6.2% of children aged 10 to 15 had been a victim of personal theft1,2, and 0.9% had been a victim of criminal damage to personal property1.

Comparing victimisation rates in 1995 (when crime was at its peak) to the 2013/14 CSEW:

• The most noticeable difference is in vehicle-related theft which decreased from 19.7% of vehicle- owning households experiencing a vehicle-related theft in 1995 to 4.3% in the 2013/14 CSEW; • Criminal damage has shown a large decrease from 10.1% of households experiencing criminal damage in 1995 to 4.2% in the 2013/14 CSEW; • Domestic burglary has also shown a large decrease from 8.7% of households experiencing domestic burglary in 1995 to 2.7% in the 2013/14 CSEW; and • Personal crimes such as theft from the person have shown smaller decreases; 1.6% of adults aged 16 and over experienced theft from the person in 1995 compared with 1.1% in the 2013/14 survey.

Although not included in the main crime estimates, 5.1% of adults aged 16 and over experienced plastic card fraud in the 2013/14 CSEW, compared with 3.7% in the 2005/06 CSEW (the earliest data are available).

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Figure 1.9: CSEW property crime victimisation, 1995 and 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics 2. Vehicle-related theft victimisation rates relate to vehicle-owning households only. 3. Bicycle theft victimisation rates relate to bicycle-owning households only.

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Notes

1. Based on the preferred measure of crime. More information about the preferred and broad measures of crime against children aged 10 to 15 can be found in Section 2.5 of the User Guide.

2. Personal theft includes: theft from the person (stealth theft, snatch theft and attempted snatch or stealth theft) and ‘other’ theft of personal property, but also theft from inside and outside a dwelling and theft of bicycles where the property stolen belonged solely to the child respondent.

Characteristics associated with being a victim of CSEW property crime

Additional analysis has been conducted on the 2013/14 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) on the characteristics associated with being a victim of property crime. All CSEW differences described in this section are statistically significant, unless stated otherwise. Full

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breakdowns of the likelihood of being a victim of property crimes by household and personal characteristics are shown in Appendix tables 1.01-1.11 (436.5 Kb Excel sheet). Many of the characteristics will be closely associated, so caution is needed in the interpretation of the effect of these different characteristics when viewed in isolation.

Age

Among respondents interviewed in the 2013/14 CSEW, those in younger age groups were more likely to be victims than those in older age groups in all property crime types:

• Households where the household reference person1 was aged 16-24 or 25-34 (both 3.8%) were more than twice as likely to be victims of domestic burglary as households where the household reference person was 65-74 (1.9%) or aged 75 and over (1.4%).

• Bicycle-owning households where the household reference person was aged 16-24 (6.9%) were more than twice as likely as households where the household reference person was in all other age groups apart from those aged 25-34 (3.9%). • Respondents aged 16-24 (2.9%) were more than twice as likely as those in all other age groups to be a victim of theft from the person.

Sex

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, for most property crime types, there was no variation in victimisation rates between men and women. Apparent differences, suggesting women (or households where the household reference person was female) were typically more likely to be victims than men (or households where the household reference person was male), were not statistically significant. Exceptions to this were:

• Females (1.5%) were twice as likely to be victims of theft from the person compared with males (0.8%). • Males (0.4%) were twice as likely to be victims of robbery compared with females (0.2%).

Household structure

In the 2013/14 CSEW, for most property crime types, respondents in lone-parent households were most likely to be victims:

• Lone-parent households (5.3%) were more likely to be victims of domestic burglary than adults with children households (3.0%) and households without children (2.4%). • Respondents in lone-parent households (7.0%) were more likely to be victims of plastic card fraud than respondents living in households without children (4.8%).

Employment/occupation

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, for almost all property crime types, respondents who were unemployed (or households where the household reference person was unemployed) were more likely to be victims than those who are in employment or classed as ‘economically inactive2’:

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• Households where the household reference person was unemployed (5.8%) were over twice as likely to be victims of domestic burglary compared with households where the household reference person was in employment (2.7%) or economically inactive (2.3%). • Households where the household reference person was unemployed (6.6%) were over twice as likely to be victims of bicycle theft compared with households where the household reference person was in employment (2.6%) or economically inactive (2.5%). • Apparent exceptions to this, where those in employment were more likely to be a victim compared with those who were unemployed, were ‘other’ theft of personal property and plastic card fraud, but these differences were not statistically significant.

For almost all types of property crime, respondents living in the most deprived (employment3) output areas were most likely to be victims; one notable exception was for plastic card fraud, where respondents living in the most deprived output areas (4.2%) were less likely to be victims than those living in the least deprived output areas or in ‘other’ output areas (both 5.3%).

Full-time students (or households where the household reference person was a full-time student) were more likely to be victims of bicycle theft (10.5%), theft from the person (3.9%) and ‘other’ theft of personal property (3.6%) than those in other occupations or who are unemployed.

Household income

In the 2013/14 CSEW, for plastic card fraud, respondents in higher-income households (for example 7.1% of households with a total income of £50,000 or more) were more likely to be victims than respondents in lower-income households (for example, 3.5% of households with a total income of less than £10,000). Although less pronounced, this general pattern was also seen among victims of vehicle-related theft, criminal damage and other theft of personal property.

The opposite distribution was evident for bicycle theft; respondents in lower-income households (for example, 5.4% of bicycle-owning households with a total income of less than £10,000) were more likely to be victims than respondents in higher-income households (for example, 2.2% of bicycle- owning households with a total income of £50,000 or more). This general pattern was also seen among victims of domestic burglary.

Accommodation type

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, for almost all property crime types, respondents living in flats/ maisonettes were more likely to be victims than those living in houses:

• Respondents from vehicle-owning households living in flats/maisonettes (5.7%) were more likely to be victims of vehicle-related theft than those living in houses (4.1%). • Respondents from bicycle-owning households living in flats/maisonettes (6.1%) were more than twice as likely to be victims of bicycle theft as those living in houses (2.3%). • The exceptions to this were criminal damage, where those living in houses (4.4%) were more likely to be a victim (compared with those living in flats/maisonettes; 3.3%) and ‘other’ household theft, where again, respondents living in houses (2.8%) were more likely to be a victim (compared with those living in flats/maisonettes; 2.1%). The latter is owing to the majority of

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‘other’ household theft offences being categorised as ‘theft from outside a dwelling’ (typically gardens) and flats/maisonettes are less likely to have gardens than houses.

Area type

In the 2013/14 CSEW, for almost all property crime types, respondents living in urban areas were more likely to be victims than those living in rural areas:

• For respondents in bicycle-owning households, those living in urban areas (3.2%) were three times as likely to be victims of bicycle theft compared with those living in rural areas (1.1%). • Respondents living in urban areas (1.3%) were twice as likely to be victims of theft from the person compared with those living in rural areas (0.7%). • An apparent exception to this, where respondents living in rural areas were more likely to be a victim (compared with those living in urban areas), was plastic card fraud, but these differences were not statistically significant.

Level of physical disorder (incivility)

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, for most property crime types, respondents living in areas with high incivility4 were more likely to be victims than those living in areas with low incivility:

• Respondents living in vehicle-owning households in areas of high incivility (6.8%) were more likely to be victims of vehicle-related theft than those living in vehicle-owning households in areas of low incivility (4.2%). • Respondents living in bicycle-owning households in areas of high incivility (4.6%) were more likely to be victims of bicycle theft than those living in bicycle-owning households in areas of low incivility (2.6%). • Apparent exceptions to this, where respondents living in areas with low incivility were more likely to be a victim (compared with those living in areas with high incivility), were ‘other’ theft of personal property and plastic card fraud, but these differences were not statistically significant.

Logistic regression can be used to estimate how much the likelihood of victimisation is increased or reduced according to different characteristics or behaviours, taking in to account the fact that some variables may be interrelated (for example, marital status and age). Analysis previously carried out on the 2011/12 CSEW has not been repeated for the 2013/14 survey. For details of the 2011/12 CSEW logistic regression analysis, see Focus on: Property Crime, 2011/12.

Notes

1. The household reference person (HRP) is the member of the household in whose name the accommodation is owned/rented, or is otherwise responsible for the accommodation. In households with a sole householder, that person is the HRP, and in households with joint

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householders, the person with the highest income is the HRP (or if two or more householders have exactly the same income, the oldest person is the HRP).

2. People who are not in employment or unemployed (people without a job who have not actively sought work in the four weeks prior to their interview and/or are not available to start work in the two weeks following their interview) including, for example: students, unpaid carers and retirees.

3. Data are available for England only. For more information on the employment deprivation indicator, see Section 7.1 of the User Guide.

4. A physical disorder measure based upon a CSEW interviewer’s assessment of the level of: (a) vandalism, graffiti and deliberate damage to property; (b) rubbish and litter; and (c) homes in poor condition in the area.

Reporting of CSEW property crime to the police

Not all incidents of crime recorded by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) are reported to the police. Figure 1.10 shows reporting rates by property crime type from the 2013/14 CSEW.

Incidents of theft of vehicles were most likely to be reported to the police (97% of incidents), which has been the case since the survey began in 1981, followed by domestic burglary in a dwelling with loss (89% of incidents). The high reporting rates for theft of vehicles and domestic burglary in a dwelling are likely to reflect the need for a crime reference number in order to claim on an insurance policy, given the higher severity of these crimes.

As in previous survey years, incidents of theft from the person (32%), criminal damage (32%), ‘other’ theft of personal property (28%) and theft from outside a dwelling (19%) were least likely to be reported to the police. This is likely owing to, in particular for incidents of ‘other’ theft of personal property (largely theft of unattended items) and theft from outside a dwelling, the monetary value of items stolen being comparatively small and victims being less likely to have had contact with the perpetrator(s).

Broadly speaking, since 1995 the proportions of specific CSEW property crime types reported to the police have remained fairly stable or shown small reductions, with the exception of bicycle theft incidents reported to the police, which have dropped by almost 20 percentage points from 63% in 1995 to 44% in the 2013/14 survey (see Table D8 of Crime in England and Wales, year ending March 2014).

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Figure 1.10: Proportion of CSEW property crime incidents reported to the police, 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

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Notes

CSEW mobile phone ownership and theft

Since 2005/06, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) has asked respondents about every household member’s ownership of mobile phones and their experience of mobile phone theft. It is not currently possible to differentiate ‘smartphones1’ from ‘mobile phones’ in the survey, as the question wording has remained constant since it was first introduced2. Data on CSEW mobile phone ownership and theft are shown in Appendix Tables 1.12-1.15 (436.5 Kb Excel sheet).

Ownership

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, 81% of people resident in households in England and Wales owned a mobile phone; this is equivalent to 45.4 million individuals owning a mobile. Mobile phone ownership has been increasing steadily over time and the latest figures compare with 71% ownership in the 2005/06 survey.

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Mobile phone ownership among males and females has increased at a similar rate between the 2005/06 and 2013/14 surveys, with the 2013/14 CSEW showing that similar proportions of males and females were mobile phone owners (both 81%), equivalent to around 22.3 million males and 23.1 million females.

The highest levels of mobile phone ownership according to the 2013/14 CSEW were among those aged 22 to 44 at 98%; adults aged 75 or older (65%) were least likely to own a mobile phone. Among children, ownership was low for those aged under 10 (5%) but almost three-quarters of those aged 10 to 13 (72%) owned a mobile phone.

Theft

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, 1.7% of mobile phone owners experienced a phone theft in the previous year (similar to 1.6% in 2012/13), equivalent to 784,000 people.

Between 2005/06 (when measurement began on the CSEW) and the 2008/09 survey, levels of mobile phone theft were similar, but this was followed by a fall between 2008/09 and 2009/10 (from 2.1% to 1.7%). Since then levels have remained stable (Figure 1.11).

Figure 1.11: Proportion of individual mobile phone owners experiencing theft in the last year, 2005/06 to 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics 2. Information on mobile phone theft was collected about the respondent and all other members of the household

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It is not clear what caused the fall in mobile phone theft prevalence between the 2008/09 and 2009/10 surveys, although they cover a period relatively soon after a charter was launched by the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum (at the end of 2006) where the majority of mobile phones would be blocked (and hence unusable) within 48 hours of being reported stolen.

The trend in prevalence of mobile phone theft since CSEW measurement began in 2005/06 is similar for males and females. In the 2013/14 CSEW, 1.6% of males and 1.8% of females had their mobile phone stolen in the last year, equivalent to around 364,000 males and 420,000 females.

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, teenagers and young adult mobile phone owners (those aged 18-24) were more likely than other age groups to have had their mobile phone stolen (18-21: 4.1%; 22-24: 3.6%). Children under 10 (0.3%), adults aged 75 or older (0.7%) and adults aged 65-74 (0.8%) who own a mobile phone were least likely to have had their phone stolen.

The Home Office research paper Reducing mobile phone theft and improving security provides further information on mobile phone ownership and theft, using results from the CSEW and London- specific data from the Metropolitan Police.

The London-specific analysis showed that some brands of phone were more likely to be stolen than others. There are several factors that are likely to affect this, from how desirable a phone is, including its potential resale in second hand markets, to how easy it is to steal the personal data contained within it. The Mobile Phone Ratio3, which shows how likely different types of phone are to be deliberately targeted, indicates that Apple iPhones are the most likely to be stolen, based on the data from August 2012 to January 2014.

Notes

1. Smartphones are a subset of mobile phones which have advanced computer capability, enabling functions such as cameras, GPS, touchscreens and web browsers.

2. In the 2014/15 CSEW, for the first time, a follow-up question will be asked of respondents who say they had a mobile phone stolen, as to whether it was a smartphone.

3. Not all stolen phones could plausibly have been targeted; some mobile phones are stolen, for example, from a home during the course of a burglary together with other valuables. In order to control for this, a Mobile Phone Theft Ratio can be constructed. This ratio is derived by dividing the share of thefts of a given model that were plausibly targeted (for example, a phone that has been snatched) by the share of thefts of a given model that was unlikely to have been targeted (for example, a phone stolen as part of a burglary).

CSEW cyber-crime

As previously mentioned, cyber-crime is not currently included in the main Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimates, although the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is currently conducting some work exploring the feasibility of extending the main victimisation module in the CSEW to cover elements of cyber-crime (see the ‘Fraud’ section for further details).

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Since 2008/09, the CSEW has asked adults about their internet use. From 2010/11, it has also asked about measures taken to protect personal details when using the internet, relating to the ‘citizens know what to do to protect themselves’ element of the UK Cyber Security Strategy (published in November 2011).

Experiences of negative online experiences (such as a computer virus or loss of money) have also been asked in the CSEW since 2010/11 and questions on whether respondents reported negative online experiences to any organisations and, if so, how satisfied they were with the service they received, were added to the 2013/14 survey. The questions on negative online experiences provide an indicator, but not a measure, of cyber-enabled crimes as the experiences asked about may or may not have been criminal.

Data on CSEW cyber-crime are shown in Appendix Tables 1.16-1.21 (436.5 Kb Excel sheet).

Negative online experiences

CSEW respondents are asked whether they experienced any of the following types of negative online behaviours/actions (some relating to property and others to upsetting/threatening behaviour) as a result of using the internet in the 12 months prior to their interview:

• a computer virus; • unauthorised access to/use of personal data; • upsetting/illegal images; • loss of money; and • abusive/threatening behaviour.

In the 2013/14 CSEW, two-thirds (67%) of adults said that they had not experienced any of these negative behaviours or actions. The most commonly cited negative experience was a computer virus which had been experienced by around a quarter of internet-using adults (24%) in the last year; 8% reported that someone had unauthorised access to or had used their personal data (for example, their email or bank account) while 3% said they had lost money while using the internet.

Reporting of online incidents

For respondents in the 2013/14 CSEW that experienced a computer virus in the last year, an anti- virus software company (35%) was the most common organisation that the incident was initially reported to. Over nine in ten (93%) respondents who experienced a computer virus were satisfied with the way the organisation they first reported the incident to handled it.

In the 2013/14 CSEW, a bank/building society or credit card company was the most common organisation that an incident of loss of money (75%) or unauthorised access (38%) was initially reported to. Around three-quarters (73%) of respondents who experienced loss of money were satisfied with the way the organisation they first reported the incident to handled it and 86% of respondents who experienced an incident of unauthorised access were satisfied with the way the organisation they first reported the incident to handled it.

Security measures taken

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The majority of respondents to the 2013/14 CSEW had adopted one or more security measures when using the internet, for example: 83% had installed anti-virus or other security software; 71% deleted suspicious emails without opening them; and 69% used complex passwords. Only 4% had not adopted any security measures.

Property crime against businesses

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is restricted to crimes experienced by the population resident in households in England and Wales, so doesn’t cover crime against commercial victims. While police recorded crime does include crimes against businesses, it does not separate these out from other crimes (other than for robbery of business property and offences of shoplifting which, by their nature, are against businesses) and only includes crimes reported to and recorded by the police.

The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) is a telephone survey in which respondents from a representative sample of business premises in certain sectors in England and Wales are asked about crimes experienced at their premises in the 12 months prior to interview. Surveys took place in 2012 and 2013, having previously run in 1994 and 2002, and work is currently underway on the 2014 CVS.

The 2012 CVS provided information on the volume and type of crime committed against businesses in England and Wales across four sectors: ‘Manufacturing’; ‘Wholesale and retail’; ‘Transportation and storage’; and ‘Accommodation and food’. For more information, see the Home Office’s 'Headline findings from the 2012 Commercial Victimisation Survey' and 'Detailed findings from the 2012 Commercial Victimisation Survey'.

The 2013 CVS covered a slightly different set of business sectors; it continued to include the ‘Accommodation and food’, and ‘Wholesale and retail’ sectors, but the ‘Manufacturing’ and ‘Transportation and storage’ sectors were replaced by the ‘Agriculture, forestry and fishing’ and the ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’ sectors. For more information, see the Home Office’s 'Headline findings from the 2013 Commercial Victimisation Survey' and 'Detailed findings from the 2013 Commercial Victimisation Survey'.

Results from the 2012 and 2013 CVS

2012 CVS data estimated that there were 9.2 million crimes against business in the four sectors covered by the survey in the year prior to interview; of these 91% were property related (Figure 1.12).

2013 CVS data estimated that there were 6.8 million crimes against business in the four sectors covered by the survey in the year prior to interview; of these, 91% were property related (Figure 1.12).

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Figure 1.12: Crime experienced by businesses in selected sectors, 2012 and 2013

Notes: 1. Source: 2012 and 2013 Commercial Victimisation Survey, Home Office 2. Click on image to enlarge the chart

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In the 2013 CVS there were an estimated total of 5,915,000 crimes experienced by business premises in the wholesale and retail sector, down 23% from the estimated total of 7,708,000 crimes experienced by business premises in the wholesale and retail sector in the 2012 CVS, although this decrease was not statistically significant. In both the 2012 and 2013 CVS, the category ‘Other theft’, which includes thefts by customers (shoplifting), accounted for 80% of all crimes experienced by the wholesale and retail sector.

In the 2013 CVS there were an estimated total of 575,000 crimes experienced by business premises in the accommodation and food sector, down 42% from the estimated total of 985,000 crimes experienced by business premises in the accommodation and food sector in the 2012 CVS. In the 2013 CVS, the category ‘Other theft’ accounted for 25% all crimes experienced by the accommodation and food sector, almost half the amount in the 2012 CVS (47%).

Nature of CSEW property crime

For further detail on the data contained within this section, see the ‘Nature of Crime’ tables accompanying this release.

Timing

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The 2013/14 CSEW showed that property crimes happened mostly in the evening or night (ranging from 53% to 81% of incidents depending on the property crime type) (Figure 1.13). Exceptions to this general pattern were ‘other’ theft of personal property and theft from the person, which were more likely to happen in the daytime (60% and 57% of incidents respectively). Incidents of robbery were equally likely to occur during the daytime and the night-time (both 50%). As might be expected, the majority of thefts experienced by children aged 10 to 15 took place during daylight hours (81%).

Figure 1.13: Time during day when incidents of property crime occurred, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics. 2. Morning/afternoon is from 6am to 6pm. 3. Evening/night is from 6pm to 6am.

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Looking at days of the week on which offences take place (Figure 1.14), the timing of victimisation is similar across domestic burglary, vehicle-related theft, bicycle theft, ‘other’ household theft and ‘other’ theft of personal property where the likelihood of being a victim was slightly higher during a week day compared with a weekend day. Across these crime types between 67% and 72% of incidents occurred during the week (this is equivalent to between 15% and 16% per week day1) and between 28% and 33% of these incidents occurred during the weekend (this is equivalent to between 11% and 13% per weekend day2).

Offences of theft from the person and criminal damage showed a different pattern, with the likelihood of being a victim being slightly higher during a weekend day compared with a week day. For theft from the person offences, 60% of incidents occurred during the week (equivalent to 13% per week day) and 40% of incidents occurred during the weekend (equivalent to 16% per weekend day). For criminal damage offences, 58% of incidents occurred during the week (equivalent to 13% per week day) and 42% of incidents occurred during the weekend (equivalent to 17% per weekend day). Robbery offences were equally likely to occur during the week and the weekend (both 14% per week/weekend day).

In the 2013/14 CSEW, 86% of incidents of theft from children aged 10 to 15 occurred during the week (equivalent to 19% per week day) and 14% of incidents occurred during the weekend (equivalent to 6% per weekend day). This means that the likelihood of a child aged 10 to 15 being a victim of theft is much higher during the week and reflects the fact that a large proportion of incidents occurred in or around school (60%).

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Figure 1.14: Time during week when incidents of property crime occurred, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics. 2. Weekend is from Friday 6pm to Monday 6am.

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Location

In the 2013/14 CSEW incidents of vehicle-related theft, criminal damage to a vehicle and bicycle theft most often occurred at or nearby the victim’s home; (75%, 74% and 68% respectively) (Figure 1.15). Looking in more detail at the location of these incidents (‘Nature of Crime’ tables 4.2, 8.2, and 5.2), bicycle theft was most likely to occur in a semi-private3 location nearby the victim’s home (54% of incidents), while criminal damage to a vehicle was most likely to occur in the street outside the victim’s home (53% of incidents). Vehicle-related theft was almost equally likely to occur in the street

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outside the victim’s home (37% of incidents) or in a semi-private location nearby the victim’s home (36% of incidents).

Figure 1.15: Location of where incidents of property crime occurred, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics.

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Items stolen

Table 1.1 shows the items most commonly stolen in different types of property crime where a theft was involved.

The 2013/14 CSEW found that purses/wallets/money/cards4 were the items most commonly stolen in incidents of domestic burglary in a dwelling (45%) and theft from a dwelling (39%). Computers/ computer equipment were the second most commonly stolen items in incidents of domestic burglary in a dwelling (39%) and jewellery was the second most commonly stolen item in incidents of theft from a dwelling (27%) (‘Nature of Crime’ tables 3.6 and 6.2).

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The 2013/14 survey found that cash/foreign currency4 was the most commonly stolen item in incidents of robbery (48%) and mobile phones were the most commonly stolen item in incidents of theft from the person (51%).

Results from the 2013/14 CSEW showed that in incidents of theft from vehicles, the items most commonly stolen were exterior fittings (for example, hub caps, wheel trims, number plates); stolen in 37% of incidents. Car radios were stolen in a much lower proportion of thefts from vehicles in the 2013/14 CSEW (4%) compared with the 2004/05 survey5 (25%). Conversely, according to the 2013/14 CSEW, electrical equipment was stolen in 19% of incidents, higher than in the 2004/05 (3%). This reflects the changing value of such goods and of the emergence of new consumer electronics, mobile telephony and computing (such as satellite navigation systems), which have become more attractive to criminals (‘Nature of Crime’ table 4.5 (255.5 Kb Excel sheet)).

Table 1.1: Item most commonly stolen in incidents of property crime, 2013/14 CSEW

England and Wales Households/adults aged 16 and over/children aged 10 to 15 Property crime type Item most commonly stolen Proportion of incidents where item was stolen (%)

Domestic burglary in a dwelling2 Purse / wallet / money / cards 45 Domestic burglary in a non- Tools / work materials 41 connected building to a dwelling2 Theft from a dwelling Purse / wallet / money / cards 39 Theft from outside a dwelling Garden furniture 41

Theft from vehicles2 Exterior fittings 37

Robbery2 Cash / foreign currency 48

Theft from the person2 Mobile phone 51 Other theft of personal property Cash / foreign currency 27 Personal theft (children aged 10 Mobile phone 22 to 15)

Table notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics 2. Where an item was stolen (excludes attempts)

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The 2013/14 survey showed that mobile phones were the most commonly stolen items in incidents of theft experienced by children aged 10-15 (stolen in 22% of incidents). Cash/foreign currency were stolen in 13% of incidents and clothing was stolen in 12% of incidents (‘Nature of Crime’ table 10.6 (121 Kb Excel sheet)).

Impact on victims

Property crime does not generally result in physical injury to the victim6; one possible exception to this is robbery, which by definition involves the use or threat of force or violence. However, the emotional impact can still be considerable for victims (Figure 1.16).

In the 2013/14 CSEW, victims of theft from a dwelling were the most likely to say that they had been very emotionally affected by the crime (34% of victims), which could reflect the fact that the theft was committed by someone who was entitled to be there (often an acquaintance or workmen) and broke the respondent’s trust. In contrast, 6% of victims of theft from outside a dwelling said that they had been very emotionally affected by the incident; this is because theft from outside a dwelling is less likely to be perceived as an invasion of privacy.

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Figure 1.16: Emotional response to property crime victimisation, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics.

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The most common types of reaction to property crimes were anger and annoyance. According to the 2013/14 CSEW, anger was the most common reaction to incidents of theft of vehicles (64%), criminal damage (64%), theft from a dwelling (63%), ‘other’ theft of personal property (62%) and domestic burglary in a dwelling (48%). Annoyance was the most common reaction to incidents of theft from vehicles (61%), bicycle theft (58%), domestic burglary in a non-connected building to a dwelling (57%), theft from the person (57%) and theft from outside a dwelling (54%). Shock and anger were the two most common reactions to incidents of robbery (both 50%).

Perceived seriousness

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Respondents who were victims of property crime were asked to rate the seriousness of the crime, with a score of 1 being the least serious and 20 being the most (Figure 1.17).

As in previous years, theft of vehicles, domestic burglary in a dwelling, theft from a dwelling and robbery were considered to be the most serious property crimes. Theft from outside a dwelling was considered to be the least serious property crime.

Figure 1.17: Mean perceived seriousness score to property crime, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

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According to the 2013/14 CSEW, children aged 10 to 15 perceived just over half (52%) of thefts they experienced (and officially recognised as crimes in-law) to be crimes. They perceived a quarter (25%) of thefts as ‘wrong, but not crimes’ and the remaining 23% of thefts as ‘just something that happens’. Around one in six theft incidents (16%) were perceived to be part of a series of bullying (‘Nature of Crime’ table 10.4 (121 Kb Excel sheet)).

Offender profile

For certain crime types, it is possible to provide further information on the characteristics of offenders. Data within this sub-section relate only to respondents to the 2013/14 CSEW who were able to say something about the offender(s). As such, some of the analysis presented here is based on a subset of incidents and may not be representative of offender traits/characteristics across all incidents of particular crime types.

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According to the 2013/14 CSEW, in almost all incidents of robbery, the victim was able to say something about the offender(s). In 76% of robbery incidents, the offender was not known to the victim. In 97% of robbery incidents the offender was male, in 2% the offender was female and in 1% there were offenders of both sexes. In 60% of robbery incidents an offender was aged 16 to 24 and in 34% of incidents an offender was aged 25 to 39 (‘Nature of Crime’ table 9.1 (190 Kb Excel sheet)).

In the 2013/14 CSEW, in 40% of incidents of domestic burglary in a dwelling, the victim was able to say something about the offender(s). In 58% of these incidents the offender was known to the victim (equivalent to 23% of all domestic burglary in a dwelling incidents). Of incidents of domestic burglary in a dwelling where the victim was able to say something about the offender(s), in 87% of incidents the offender was male, in 9% of incidents the offender was female and in 5% of incidents there were offenders of both sexes. In 53% of incidents of domestic burglary in a dwelling, someone was at home at the time it happened. Of those incidents where someone was at home, aware and saw the offender(s), force or violence was either threatened or used in just under half (48%) of cases (‘Nature of Crime’ tables 3.8 and 3.9).

In the 2013/14 CSEW, in 27% of criminal damage incidents the victim was able to say something about the offender(s). Of incidents of criminal damage where the victim was able to say something about the offender(s), in 68% of incidents the offender was male, in 12% the offender was female and in 20% there were offenders of both sexes. In 34% of criminal damage incidents an offender was aged under 16 and in 21% of incidents an offender was aged 40 or older (‘Nature of Crime’ table 8.7 (158.5 Kb Excel sheet)).

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, in 53% of thefts of personal property experienced by children aged 10 to 15 the victim was able to say something about the offender. In 42% of incidents the offender was a pupil at the victim’s school and in 31% of incidents the offender was a friend (including boy/ girlfriend) of the victim (‘Nature of Crime’ table 10.3 (121 Kb Excel sheet)).

Notes

1. Daily data are calculated from the weekly total with the week classified at 6am Monday until 6pm Friday.

2. Daily data are calculated from the weekend total with the weekend classified as 6pm Friday until 6am Monday

3. 'Semi-private' includes outside areas on or near the premises and garages or car parks around, but not connected to the home.

4. For personal theft offences (robbery, theft from the person and ‘other’ theft of personal property) ‘Purse/wallet’, ‘Cash/foreign currency’ and ‘Credit cards’ are separate stolen item categories; for household theft offences (domestic burglary and ‘other’ household theft) they have been combined into one stolen item category: ‘Purse/wallet/money/cards’.

5. 2003/04 was the first year that a detailed breakdown of items stolen in theft from vehicle incidents was available. In 1995, when incidents of theft from vehicles were near their peak, the

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most common items stolen were external fittings (32%; similar to 2004/05 and 2013/14) followed by stereo equipment, including car radios, tapes and CDs (30%).

6. CSEW offences are coded according to the Home Office Principal Crime Rule, where if the sequence of crimes in an incident contains more than one type of crime, then the most serious is counted. For example, if the respondent was seriously wounded during the course of a burglary this would be recorded as a violent crime, however if the respondent was assaulted but not seriously wounded this would be recorded as a burglary.

Background notes

1. If you have any queries regarding crime statistics for England and Wales please email: [email protected].

2. Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available by visiting www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html or from the Media Relations Office email: [email protected]

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs; • are well explained and readily accessible; • are produced according to sound methods; and • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

This document is also available on our website at www.ons.gov.uk.

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Chapter 2: Property Crime - Metal Theft

Coverage: England and Wales Date: 27 November 2014 Geographical Area: Country Theme: Crime and Justice

Key findings

In 2013/14, metal theft offences accounted for around 2% of all theft offences and just over 1% of the 3.7 million offences recorded by police in England and Wales.

• There were 40,680 metal theft offences recorded by police in England and Wales in 2013/14, a decrease of around a third compared with 2012/13. • Over the same period infrastructure related metal theft offences, which include those that targeted metals that are connected to live services, decreased by around 41% while non- infrastructure related metal theft offences decreased by around 27%. • There were seven metal theft offences per 10,000 population in England and Wales in 2013/14. The North East region had the highest rates of metal theft in England and Wales in this period, with 16 offences per 10,000 population, while London had the lowest rates with two offences per 10,000 population. • Metal theft offences decreased by 46% in the South East region in 2013/14 compared to 2012/13. This was the largest decrease in England and Wales. The West Midlands region showed the smallest decrease in this period at 5%, followed by the North East region which decreased by 18%. • Almost two-thirds (63%) of metal theft offences recorded by the police fell within the offence sub-category ‘all other theft offences’. This includes offences involving theft of both unattended personal property and property from outside people’s homes. Most of the remaining offences fell under burglary and offences against vehicles.

Introduction

Metal theft is not a specific offence defined by law, but is recorded by police under broader offence classifications, such as ‘other theft’, ‘vehicle offences’ or ‘burglary’. It refers to the theft of items for the value of their constituent metals, rather than the acquisition of the item itself. Metal theft affects a wide range of industries, most notably telecommunications, power suppliers and travel services. Metal theft incurs huge costs on businesses and causes disruption to customers. According to a report by the Local Government Association (2013), the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) estimated metal theft to cost the UK economy around £770 million per year. Beyond the economic costs, there are a number of personal, societal and environmental costs incurred as a result of metal theft, particularly infrastructure related metal theft. Theft of metal with a relatively low value can

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inflict high costs on bill payers in terms of repair, security and labour. Beyond this, travel disruption can result from theft from railways; loss of power can affect communities when power suppliers are targeted and the individuals’ responsible for metal theft face risk of injury or death, particularly when dealing with electrical equipment.

The growing concern around metal theft and the costs it incurs led the Home Office to start a special data collection on metal theft from April 2012 (covering the 44 forces in England and Wales including British Transport Police).

Home Office guidance gives police forces the following definitions for differentiating between infrastructure related and non-infrastructure related metal theft:

• Infrastructure related metal theft is ‘the removal of metal that has a direct impact on the functioning of infrastructure and/or fabric of a building or machinery. This includes all metals that are connected to live services such as: water, heating, electricity, other service cabling and railway cabling, roofing lead, a catalytic converter removed from a vehicle and manhole covers’. • Non-infrastructure related metal theft is ‘the removal of metal that has no direct impact on the functioning of infrastructure and/or fabric of a building or machinery. This includes metal that is not connected to services, redundant metal, war memorial plaques, and metal gates/fencing’.

When police forces were first required to submit metal theft data to the Home Office, a number of forces1 were unable to provide a breakdown between infrastructure related and non-infrastructure related metal theft. Where forces found it difficult to differentiate between the two types of metal thefts, they were advised to categorise the offence as infrastructure related only in order to avoid double counting. Furthermore, some forces2 only provided partial data for 2012/13. When making comparisons across years, data for these forces have been excluded where necessary.

It can be unclear whether an offence is a metal theft offence or not. As a result, there is likely to be some variation in the way forces interpret and define offences within the current definition. Although the figures in this section give a good indication of the overall trends in metal theft, they should not be overstated as there is likely to be some margin of error in the way metal theft is recorded. Caution must be taken when comparing figures over time and between forces.

Notes

1. Cleveland, Leicestershire and North Wales were unable to provide an entire year’s breakdown between infrastructure and non-infrastructure related metal thefts for 2012/13.

2. Norfolk and West Midlands were unable to provide an entire year’s worth of data for 2012/13.

Metal theft in England and Wales

Between 2009/10 and 2011/12, the number of offences recorded by police under the offence category ‘other theft’ saw a 13% increase. ‘Other theft’ includes offences involving theft of both unattended personal property (such as wallets and phones) and property from outside people’s homes (for example garden furniture and tools), as well as crimes against organisations (such as

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rail companies). The increase is believed to have occurred, in part, as a result of a surge in metal theft throughout the period, which corresponds with a global spike in metal commodity prices which in turn led to an increase in the price of scrap (see Crime in England and Wales, year ending March 2014). As a result, metal theft was seen as an increasing problem in England and Wales.

In 2013/14 there were 40,680 metal theft offences recorded by the 44 police forces in England and Wales, a decrease of around a third compared with 2012/13. Table 2.1 provides a breakdown by infrastructure and non-infrastructure related offences. Of the 2013/14 offences, 47% were infrastructure related and 53% were non-infrastructure related. The fall is driven by a reduction in both infrastructure and non-infrastructure related metal theft.

Table 2.1: Metal theft offences recorded by the police, 2012/13 and 2013/14 (1,2)

England and Wales 2012/13 2013/14 % change Number of offences:

Infrastructure related3 28,257 16,772 -41 Non-infrastructure 25,816 18,767 -27 related3

All metal theft4 57,983 38,081 -34

Table notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics 3. Includes data from 39 police forces in England and Wales (excluding Cleveland, Leicestershire, Norfolk, North Wales and West Midlands who did not provide a complete infrastructure/non-infrastructure breakdown in 2012/13) 4. Includes data from 42 police forces in England and Wales (excluding Norfolk and West Midlands, who did not provide complete data for 2012/13).

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Metal theft trends have shown some seasonality. In particular, the number of offences recorded by police showed a large decrease around December for both years, when compared to changes between other months, as can be seen in Figure 2.1. This is in line with more general trends in ‘other theft’ and ‘offences against vehicles’ offences, which encompass the majority of metal theft offences recorded by the police. These offences also fall around winter time (see ‘Analysis of seasonality in police recorded property crime (72.7 Kb Pdf)’ for more details).

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Figure 2.1: Metal theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, by month, 2012/13 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. Data taken from 42 forces (not including Norfolk and West Midlands) that provided complete data for both 2012/13 and 2013/14.

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The overall decline in the number of metal theft incidents recorded by police has occurred alongside a number of police and government initiatives to tackle the problem. In November 2011, the government provided £5m to establish a national metal theft taskforce. It has since provided further funding in 2013/14 and 2014/15. The taskforce was initially set up to tackle the growing problem of metal theft in England and Wales until a legislative solution was found. Led by the British Transport Police (BTP), it has taken a multi-agency approach in developing intelligence and coordinating work designed to disrupt the activities of metal thieves and rogue scrap metal dealers. Government funding for the taskforce ended on 30 September 2014, allowing the taskforce to continue to operate for the first year of the new licensing scheme. It is believed there has been sufficient time for legislative reforms to have become well established, for co-ordinated enforcement to have taken place, and for police forces to have developed and implemented proposals to embed tackling metal theft within their normal business.

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One of the strategies put in place by the taskforce was Operation Tornado, created in January 2012. This was a joint initiative between BTP, the Home Office, police forces and the scrap metal industry. It required participating scrap metal dealers to take voluntary additional steps to check the identity of individuals selling scrap metal, and a more focused, coordinated law enforcement response.

Other legislative initiatives have included the ban of cash payments for scrap metal, which was first introduced in December 2012 and became mandatory for all scrap metal dealers in October 2013 with the commencement of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. Other requirements that were introduced by the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 include a licensing scheme for all scrap metal dealers, which gives local authorities the power to refuse and revoke licences to unsuitable dealers. It also requires all traders to keep records of names and addresses of scrap metal suppliers, increasing traceability for all transactions.

Metal theft by police force area

Across England and Wales, the police recorded seven metal theft offences per 10,000 population in 2013/14. As shown in Figure 2.2, South Yorkshire had the highest number of offences per population with 25 offences per 10,000 population and Suffolk had the lowest with only one offence per 10,000 population.

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Figure 2.2: Metal theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, rates per 10,000 population, by police force area, 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. Population figures for British Transport Police (BTP) are not available; therefore, this force is excluded. 4. 'London, City of' is excluded from this analysis due to the small resident population of the area relative to the transient or visiting population.

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In 2013/14, metal theft rates were generally higher in the North than the South. As shown in Appendix Table 2.02 (436.5 Kb Excel sheet), the North East region had the highest rates of metal theft offences with 16 offences per 10,000 population. This is followed by the Yorkshire and the Humber region, which had 13 offences per 10,000 population. In contrast, the South East region and the South West region had only five and six offences per 10,000 population respectively, while London had only two offences per 10,000 population.

Rates of metal theft offences have remained higher in the Northern regions than in the Southern, Midlands and Welsh regions. However, all regions have shown similar patterns of metal theft trends, with northern forces generally showing lower year on year falls. The number of metal theft offences recorded by the police in 2013/14 decreased by 18% in the North East and 27% in the Yorkshire and Humber region, when compared with 2012/13. This compares to decreases of 44% and 46% in the London and South East regions respectively, and 43% in the South West, as shown in Appendix Table 2.04 (436.5 Kb Excel sheet). Forces in the West Midlands1 showed the smallest decrease at five per cent from 2012/13 to 2013/14, this was caused by increases in the number of non- infrastructure related offences recorded by West Mercia and Staffordshire. The number of metal theft offences fell at a faster rate at the start of 2012/13, before beginning to level out at the start of 2013. This fall at the start of 2012/13 could be in part down to the introduction of the metal theft taskforce in January 2012, which led to the gradual introduction of initiatives across different regions, meaning many regions had already adopted preventative measures before they became compulsory. As a result, larger falls in the number of metal theft offences recorded by police can be seen before legislation was formally introduced.

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Figure 2.3: Metal theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, rates per 10,000 population, by month and region, 2012/13 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. Northern regions include: North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber regions. 4. Midlands and Wales regions include: East Midlands, West Midlands and Wales regions. 5. Southern regions include: London, South East, South West and Eastern regions.

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Notes

1. Percentage change excludes West Midlands, who did not provide complete data in 2012/13.

Metal theft by offence type

Metal theft is not a separate legal offence in its own right, but is recorded under broader offence categories, such as theft from a vehicle and burglary. If the police believe an offence to be related to metal theft, they flag it as such. The Home Office Data Hub (HODH) collects record level crime data, which allows users to access detailed information about a crime. Using the HODH it is possible to learn more about the nature of metal theft offences, including the specific types of offences involved.

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The following analysis uses data from 23 forces that were deemed to have good metal theft data in the HODH for 2013/14.

In 2013/14, around two-thirds (63%) of metal theft offences recorded by police were part of the offence sub-group ‘all other theft offences’. This was followed by burglary and vehicle offences, which accounted for 20% and 16% of all metal thefts respectively. The remaining 1% of offences were recorded as part of other offences, which include offences such as criminal damage and miscellaneous crimes against society. Within the ‘all other theft offences’ sub-group falls the offence classification ‘other theft’. This includes theft not classified elsewhere and removal of articles from places open to the public. Much of this type of theft involves theft of both unattended personal property and property from outside people’s homes (for example garden furniture and tools) and theft from organisations (such as rail and electricity companies). ‘Other theft’ makes up 61% of all metal theft offences. Around four in five (79%) burglary offences involving metal theft are recorded as non-domestic burglary, which includes burglary from buildings not fit for habitation, with the remaining one in five burglary offences recorded as domestic burglary.

Figure 2.4: Metal theft offences recorded by the police, by offence type, Home Office Data Hub, 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Home Office Data Hub, Home Office. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. Data based on 23 forces that provided accurate data via the Home Office Data Hub.

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Metal theft in the Commercial Victimisation Survey

The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) was set up to supplement existing crime statistics and provide further insight into crimes against businesses1. The 2012 CVS included questions about metal theft for the first time. The most recent release from the CVS combines findings from the 2012 survey with findings from the 2013 survey. It focused on six industry sectors. These were: ‘Wholesale and retail’; ‘Accommodation and food’; ‘Agriculture, forestry and fishing’; ‘Arts, entertainment and recreation’; ‘Manufacturing’ (2012 only); and ‘Transportation and storage’ (2012 only).

Respondents from the manufacturing industry were most likely to suspect that they had been victims of metal theft. Respondents from the accommodation and food industry were least likely to suspect that they were victims of metal theft.

Table 2.2: Proportion of premises where respondents suspected they had experienced metal theft in the last 12 months, by industry sector, 2012 and 2013 CVS

England and Wales Businesses Industry % experiencing metal theft Manufacturing (2012) 14 Agriculture, forestry and fishing (2013) 10 Transportation and storage (2012) 9 Wholesale and retail (2013) 7 Arts, entertainment and recreation (2013) 7 Accommodation and food (2013) 5

Table notes: 1. Source: 2012 and 2013 Commercial Victimisation Surveys, Home Office

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While the CVS gives some insight into the impact that metal theft has on businesses, there are some types of organisation that are not included in the survey that may experience a high level of metal theft. For example, theft of telecommunication equipment is not covered in the CVS, but is thought to account for a large proportion of metal theft.

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Notes

1. For example, the Crime Survey for England and Wales covers crimes against individuals living in households, and therefore does not include crimes against businesses.

Data quality and interpreting the figures

Police forces were required to record metal theft data as a separate collection for the first time in April 2012. As this data collection was new to forces, it took some time for all forces to develop a consistent approach. As a result, several forces were unable to provide a full data set for 2012/13. Two forces1 provided only partial data for this year. A further three forces2 were unable to provide a breakdown between infrastructure and non-infrastructure related metal theft. When comparing 2012/13 figures with 2013/14 figures, these forces have been excluded from some of the analysis to ensure data are comparable across the two years. Other forces may have experienced some data quality issues as forces got used to the practices involved in identifying and flagging offences as metal theft. These may not be accounted for in the analysis.

When a police force is unsure whether an offence is infrastructure related or non-infrastructure related, they are advised to record the offence as infrastructure related only in order to avoid double counting an offence. This should not affect the overall number of metal thefts recorded by police, but may have some affect on the breakdown between infrastructure and non-infrastructure related metal thefts.

Notes

1. Norfolk and West Midlands.

2. Cleveland, Leicestershire and North Wales.

Background notes

1. Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available by visiting www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html or from the Media Relations Office email: [email protected]

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs; • are well explained and readily accessible; • are produced according to sound methods; and • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

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Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

This document is also available on our website at www.ons.gov.uk.

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Data Sources and References

Coverage: England and Wales Date: 27 November 2014 Geographical Area: Country Theme: Crime and Justice

Data Sources

Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)

The CSEW is a face-to-face survey in which people resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of crime in the 12 months prior to the interview. It covers both children aged 10-15 and adults aged 16 and over, but does not cover those living in group residences (such as care homes, student halls of residence and prisons), or crimes against commercial or public sector bodies. Respondents are interviewed in their own homes by trained interviewers using a structured questionnaire that is administered on a laptop computer using specialist survey software. The questions asked do not use technical terms or legal definitions but are phrased in plain English language. The information collected during the interview is then reviewed later by a team of specialist coders employed by the survey contractors (currently TNS- BMRB) who determine whether or not what was reported amounts to a crime in law and, if so, what offence has been experienced. This ‘offence coding’ aims to reflect the Home Office Counting Rules for recorded crime which govern how the police record offences reported to them.

The CSEW is able to capture all offences experienced by those interviewed, not just those that have been reported to, and recorded by, the police. It covers a broad range of victim-based crimes experienced by the resident household population. However, there are some serious but relatively low volume offences, such as homicide and sexual offences that are not included in its main estimates. The survey also currently excludes fraud and cyber crime though there is ongoing development work to address this gap – see the methodological note ‘Work to extend the Crime Survey for England and Wales to include fraud and cyber crime’.

Since it began, the CSEW has been conducted by an independent (from government or the police) survey research organisation using trained interviewers to collect data from sampled respondents. The interviewers have no vested interest in the results of the survey. For the crime types and population groups it covers, the CSEW has a consistent methodology and is unaffected by changes in levels of public reporting to the police, recording practice or police activity. As such, the survey is widely seen to operate as an independent reality-check of the police figures. The independence of the survey has been further strengthened by the transfer of responsibility from the Home Office to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in April 2012.

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The CSEW has a higher number of reported volumes than police recorded crime as the survey is able to capture all offences by those interviewed, not just those that have been reported to the police and then recorded. However, it does cover a narrower range of offences than the recorded crime collection.

The CSEW has necessary exclusions from its main count of crime (for example, homicide, crimes against businesses and other organisations, and drug possession). The survey also excludes sexual offences from its main crime count given the sensitivities around reporting this in the context of a face-to-face interview. However, at the end of the main interview there is a self-completion element (also via a computer) where adults aged 16 to 59 are asked about their experience of domestic and sexual violence and these results are reported separately – for more detailed information, see ‘Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13’.

The offence of fraud, whether committed in traditional or newer ways (such as over the internet), is not part of this core module. Other offences which are committed via cyberspace (such as harassment) are also not covered by the existing questions. However, supplementary modules of questions are included in the survey in an attempt to better understand the nature of these newer types of crime. In addition, methodological work is ongoing to explore the feasibility of adding questions to the core module to cover newer types of crime – for more information, see ‘Discussion paper on the coverage of crime statistics’.

The survey is based on a sample of the population, and therefore estimates have a margin of quantifiable (and non quantifiable) error associated with them. The latter includes: when respondents have recalled crimes in the reference period that actually occurred outside that period (‘telescoping’); and crimes that did occur in the reference period that were not mentioned at all (either because respondents failed to recall a fairly trivial incident or, conversely, because they did not want to disclose an incident, such as a domestic assault). Some may have said they reported a crime to the police when they did not (a ‘socially desirable’ response); and, some incidents reported during the interview could be miscoded (‘interviewer/coder error’).

In 2009, the CSEW was extended to cover children aged 10 to 15, and this release also incorporates results from this element of the survey. The main analysis and commentary however is restricted to adults and households due to the long time series for which comparable data are available.

The CSEW has a nationally representative sample of around 35,000 adults and 3,000 children (aged 10 to 15 years) per year. The response rates for the survey in 2013/14 were 75% and 68% respectively. The survey is weighted to adjust for possible non-response bias and to ensure the sample reflects the profile of the general population. For more details of the methodology see the CSEW technical report.

Police recorded crime

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Police recorded crime figures are supplied by the 43 territorial police forces of England and Wales, plus the British Transport Police, via the Home Office to ONS. The coverage of police recorded crime statistics is defined by the Notifiable Offence List, which includes a broad range of offences, from murder to minor criminal damage, theft and public order offences. However, there are some, mainly less serious offences, that are excluded from the recorded crime collection. These ‘non- notifiable’ crimes include many incidents that might generally be considered to be anti-social behaviour but that may also be crimes in law (including by-laws) such as littering, begging and drunkenness. Other non-notifiable offences include driving under the influence of alcohol, parking offences and TV licence evasion. These offences are not reported on in this release.

Police recorded crime is the primary source of sub-national crime statistics and for crime types where only a relatively low volume of crimes are experienced. It covers people (including, for example, residents of institutions and tourists as well as the resident population) and sectors (for example commercial crime) excluded from the CSEW sample. Recorded crime has a wider coverage of offences, for example covering homicide, sexual offences, and crimes without a specific, identifiable victim (referred to as ‘Other crimes against society’) not included in the main CSEW crime count. Police recorded crime also provides good measures of well-reported crimes but does not cover any crimes that are not reported to or discovered by the police. It is also affected by changes in reporting and recording practices. Like any administrative data, police recorded crime will be affected by the rules governing the recording of data, by the systems in place, and by operational decisions in respect of the allocation of resources.

As well as the main police recorded crime series, there are additional collections providing detail on offences involving a particular ‘aggravating factor’ (such as those involving the use of knives and firearms, which are too low in volume to be measured reliably by the CSEW). One other collection provides details on offences involving metal theft.

Metal theft data were collected from police forces in one of two ways. Forces could submit data to the Home Office via the Home Office Data Hub (HODH). Forces who submit data via the HODH send their usual monthly figures, but may give offences either an infrastructure related metal theft flag, or a non-infrastructure related metal theft flag to indicate that this particular offence is believed to have involved metal theft. For those who provide regular and accurate data to the HODH, data were extracted directly from the HODH. HODH forces were asked to check the figures, and no further submissions were required. This was the case for 23 forces. Forces that were unable to submit accurate data via the HODH were required to supply aggregate data in an Excel spreadsheet stating the number of metal theft offences they had recorded each month, broken down by infrastructure related and non-infrastructure related metal theft.

Police forces were required to record metal theft data as a separate collection for the first time in April 2012. As this data collection was new to forces, it took some time for all forces to develop a consistent approach. As a result, several forces were unable to provide a full data set for 2012/13. Two forces (Norfolk and West Midlands) provided only partial data for this year. A further three forces (Cleveland, Leicestershire and North Wales) were unable to provide a breakdown between infrastructure and non-infrastructure related metal theft. When comparing 2012/13 figures with 2013/14 figures, these forces have been excluded from some of the analysis to ensure data are comparable across the two years. Other forces may have experienced some data quality issues as

Office for National Statistics | 3 27 November 2014

forces got used to the practices involved in identifying and flagging offences as metal theft. These may not be accounted for in the analysis.

When a police force is unsure whether an offence is infrastructure related or non-infrastructure related, they are advised to record the offence as infrastructure related only in order to avoid double counting an offence. This should not affect the overall number of metal thefts recorded by police, but may have some effect on the breakdown between infrastructure and non-infrastructure related metal thefts.

Since 1 April 2013, Action Fraud has taken responsibility for the central recording of fraud offences previously recorded by individual police forces. To allow for piloting and development of the Action Fraud service this transfer had a phased introduction between April 2011 and March 2013. For example, by the end of December 2012, 24 police force areas had transferred responsibility with the remaining transferring by the end of March 2013. From 2013/14 onwards, all fraud figures encompass all police recorded fraud under Action Fraud.

Although Action Fraud receives reports of fraud from victims across the UK, data presented in ONS’ crime statistics publications cover fraud offences where the victim resides in England or Wales only, based on the victim’s postcode. Action Fraud collects data at a national level and includes types of fraud where it is not possible to attribute it to a specific police force (for example, internet based fraud).

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) also collect data on fraud direct from industry bodies. The NFIB are based at the City of London Police, who lead national policing on fraud.

The NFIB currently receive data from two industry bodies:

• CIFAS is a UK-wide fraud prevention service representing around 300 organisations from the public and private sectors. These organisations mainly share data on confirmed cases of fraud, particularly application, identity and first party frauds, via the CIFAS National Fraud Database. Data supplied by CIFAS to the NFIB are recorded in line with the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) for recorded crime. • Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK) is the name under which the financial services industry co-ordinates its activity on fraud prevention. FFA UK works in partnership with the UK Cards Association, and collates information from the card payments industry in the UK on fraud relating to cheque, plastic card and online bank accounts, via their central Fraud Intelligence Sharing System (FISS) database. The data supplied by FFA UK also conforms to HOCR, however FISS is an intelligence tool rather than a fraud reporting tool, and its main purpose is to share intelligence relating to fraud offences rather than count the number of victims of fraud.

Both sets of industry data relate only to those organisations that are part of the respective membership networks (CIFAS, UK Cards Association); therefore coverage can also change as new members join or previous members withdraw. These data are subject to continuing development and ONS is giving consideration as to whether these can be designated as Official Statistics in the future.

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Types of plastic card fraud recorded by the National Fraud Database include fraudulent applications for plastic cards (including ID fraud), fraudulent misuse of plastic card accounts, and takeover of plastic card accounts (for example changing the address and getting new cards issued). CIFAS do not collect data on ‘card not present’ fraud, where the cardholder and card are not present at the point of sale, for example, use of the card online, over the phone or by mail order. In addition they do not include data on fraud relating to lost or stolen cards and ATM fraud. This means that a high proportion of plastic card fraud is not included in the NFIB figures.

FFA UK data contain intelligence for Mail Not Received (MNR) fraud, Card ID fraud (includes Account Takeover and Application Fraud), Payment fraud (includes fraud relating to telephone banking and online banking), Cheque fraud (includes forged, altered and counterfeit) and Mule accounts (accounts used for laundering the proceeds of fraud). Like CIFAS, FFA UK do not feed through to the NFIB data on ‘card not present’ fraud, lost or stolen cards and ATM fraud – these frauds are reported separately to FFA UK via a fraud reporting mechanism which does not feed through to NFIB, and so do not appear in ONS’ crime statistics. This accounts for a high proportion of plastic card fraud which is not included in the NFIB figures, although information relating to plastic card fraud in terms of levels of financial fraud losses on UK cards is published annually by the FFA UK on behalf of the UK Cards Association.

CIFAS and FFA UK provide separate feeds to NFIB via their individual databases, however a proportion of organisations are members of both industry bodies (CIFAS, UK Cards Association).

It is possible that there may be some double or triple counting between both these sources and the offences recorded via direct reports from victims to Action Fraud. For example, police are called to a bank and apprehend an offender for a fraud offence. Police record this crime with Action Fraud and the bank report the same crime to CIFAS or FFA UK as part of their processes.

Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS)

The CVS is a telephone victimisation survey in which businesses in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of a range of crimes in the 12 months prior to interview. The CVS is annual, not continuous. A total of 4,017 businesses (approximately 1,000 from each of the four sectors) were interviewed in the 2012 CVS; a total of 4,041 businesses (again approximately 1,000 from each of the four sectors) were interviewed in the 2013 CVS. The 2012 and 2013 surveys use similar methodology and questions to two previous surveys carried out in 1994 and 2002 allowing some comparisons to be made, notably for the ‘wholesale and retail’ sector.

The 2012 CVS provided information on the volume and type of crime committed against businesses in England and Wales across four sectors: ‘manufacturing’; ‘wholesale and retail’; ‘transportation and storage’; and ‘accommodation and food’. The 2013 CVS covered a slightly different set of business sectors; it continued to include the ‘accommodation and food’, and ‘wholesale and retail’ sectors, but the ‘manufacturing’ and ‘transportation and storage’ sectors were replaced by the ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’ and the ‘arts, entertainment and recreation’ sectors.

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For more information, see the Home Office’s ‘Headline findings from the 2012 Commercial Victimisation Survey’ and ‘Headline findings from the 2013 Commercial Victimisation Survey’ releases.

More details on all these sources can be found in the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales.

List of products

The following are URL links associated with the production of crime statistics:

1. Crime statistics publications on the Home Office website 2. Historic police recorded crime 3. National Statistician’s Review of Crime Statistics for England and Wales 4. User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales 5. Guide to Finding Crime Statistics 6. The 2012/13 Crime Survey for England and Wales Technical Report Volume 1 7. Future Dissemination Strategy – Summary of Responses 8. Analysis of Variation in Crime Trends (methodological note) 9. Methodological note: Presentational changes to National Statistics on police recorded crime in England and Wales 10. Methodological note: Presentational and methodological improvements to National Statistics on the Crime Survey for England and Wales 11. ‘Short story on Anti-Social Behaviour, 2011/12’ (published 11 April 2013) 12. ‘Focus on Property Crime, 2012/13’ (published 28 November 2013) 13. ‘An overview of hate crime in England and Wales’ (published 17 December 2013) 14. ‘Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13’ (published 13 February 2014) 15. ‘Focus on: Victimisation and Public Perceptions, 2012/13’ (published 30 May 2014) 16. ‘Crime in England and Wales, year ending March 2014’ (published 17 July 2014) 17. Latest quarterly publication (published 16 October 2014)

Anonymised datasets from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (in SPSS format) are currently available on:

• the UK Data Service through the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS); and • ONS’ Virtual Micro data Laboratory (VML).

In addition to these National Statistics releases, provisional police recorded crime data drawn from local management information systems sit behind, street level figures released each month, via:

Police recorded crime, street level mapping tool.

Crime Statistics for Scotland are available from the Scottish Government.

Crime Statistics for Northern Ireland are available from the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

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References

Bandyopadhyay, S., 2012, ‘Acquisitive Crime: Imprisonment, Detection and Social Factors’, Civitas: London

British Retail Consortium, 2013, ‘Retail Crime Survey 2012’, London

Bunge, V., Johnson, H. and Baldé, T., 2005, ‘Exploring crime patterns in Canada’, Crime and Justice Research Paper Series 85-561 no. 005. Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics and Time Series Research and Analysis Centre: Ontario

Cabinet Office, 2011, ‘UK Cyber Security Strategy’

CIFAS, 2014, ‘CIFAS members’

Cornish, D. and Clarke, R., 2003, ‘Opportunities, precipitators and criminal decisions: A reply to Wortley’s critique of situational crime prevention’, Crime Prevention Studies 16, 41 – 96

Donohue, J. and Levitt, S., 2001, ‘The impact of legalized abortion on crime’, The Quarterly Journal of Economics 116 (2), 379 – 420

Farrell, G., Tilley, N., Tseloni, A. and Mailley, J., 2010, ‘Explaining and sustaining the crime drop: Clarifying the role of opportunity-related theories’, Crime Prevention and Community Safety 12 (1), 24 – 41

Farrell, G., Tilley, N., Tseloni, A. and Mailley, J., 2011, ‘The crime drop and the security hypothesis’, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 48 (2), 147 – 175

Financial Fraud Action UK, 2014, ‘Fraud the Facts 2014’

Fox, C., 2011, ‘How will the recession affect crime rates in Greater Manchester?’, Safer Communities 10 (3), 17 – 30

Home Office, 2008, ‘Crime in England and Wales 2007/08: Supplementary Tables: Nature of burglary’

Home Office, 2012, ‘Guidance on the offence of buying scrap metal for cash’

Home Office, 2013a, ‘Crime against businesses: Detailed findings from the 2012 Commercial Victimisation Survey’

Home Office, 2013b, ‘Crime against businesses: Headline findings from the 2012 Commercial Victimisation Survey’

Home Office, 2014a, ‘Crime against businesses: Detailed findings from the 2013 Commercial Victimisation Survey’

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Home Office, 2014b, ‘Crime against businesses: Headline findings from the 2013 Commercial Victimisation Survey’

Home Office, 2014c, ‘Reducing mobile phone theft and improving security’

Home Office, 2014d, ‘The heroin epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s and its effect on crime – then and now’

Local Government Association, 2013, ‘Tackling metal theft’

Ministry of Justice, 2014, ‘Criminal justice statistics quarterly: March 2014’

Network Rail, 2014, ‘National Performance Affecting Cable Theft – August 2014’

Nottingham Post, 2013, ‘Nottingham Co-op stores to get tough on shoplifters’

Office for National Statistics, 2013a, ‘2012/13 Crime Survey for England and Wales: Technical Report – Volume One’

Office for National Statistics, 2013b, ‘Analysis of seasonality in police recorded property crime’

Office for National Statistics, 2013c, ‘Focus on: Property Crime, 2011/12’

Office for National Statistics, 2014a, ‘Action Plan to address requirements from UK statistics authority assessment – Progress update’

Office for National Statistics, 2014b, ‘Crime in England and Wales, year ending March 2014’

Office for National Statistics, 2014c, ‘Discussion paper on the coverage of crime statistics’

Office for National Statistics, 2014d, ‘Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13’

Office for National Statistics, 2014e, ‘User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales’

Office for National Statistics, 2014f, ‘Work to extend the Crime Survey for England and Wales to include fraud and cyber crime’

The Guardian, 2014, ‘Rise in female shoplifters linked to benefit cuts, say police’

Tseloni, A., Mailley, J., Farrell, G. and Tilley, N., 2010, ‘Exploring the international decline in crime rates’, European Journal of Criminology 7 (5), 375 – 394

UK Cards Association, 2014, ‘Membership list’

UK Statistics Authority, 2011, ‘National Statistician’s Review of Crime Statistics for England and Wales’

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UK Statistics Authority, 2014a, ‘Assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics: Statistics on Crime in England and Wales’

UK Statistics Authority, 2014b, ‘Types of official statistics’

Welsh, B. and Farrington, D., 2008, ‘Effects of Closed Circuit Television Surveillance on Crime’, The Campbell Collaboration

Background notes

1. If you have any queries regarding crime statistics for England and Wales please email: [email protected].

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs; • are well explained and readily accessible; • are produced according to sound methods; and • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

This document is also available on our website at www.ons.gov.uk.

Office for National Statistics | 9 3/31/15 Patterns and trends in property crime - ONS

Patterns and trends in property crime Long-term falls in property crime and how the nature of property crime has changed over time.

Property crime covers a range of criminal activities where the aim is to either steal property or to cause damage to it. These type of crimes, in particular the high volume ones such as vehicle-related theft, criminal damage and burglary, are important in driving overall crime trends, as most crime is property-related. The statistical bulletin ‘Focus on: Property Crime, 2013/14’ provides a comprehensive overview of statistics on these types of crime.

How have levels of property crime changed over time?

Property crime has seen marked declines since peak levels in the 1990s, with falls seen across both main measures of crime: the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and crimes recorded by the police. The CSEW, which provides the most reliable indication of long-term trends for the population and crime types it covers, showed steady increases in property crime from 1981 when the survey started, through to a peak in 1995. Since then there have been steady declines and the 2013/14 CSEW showed reductions of over 60% since the mid-1990s. This trend is consistent with that seen in many other countries.

Long-term trends in total CSEW crime and CSEW property crime

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/focus-on-property-crime--2013-14/sty-patterns-and-trends-in-property-crime.html?format=print 1/5 3/31/15 Patterns and trends in property crime - ONS

While there have been long-term declines across most types of property crime, the falls have been most pronounced in vehicle-related theft and domestic burglary. The long-term decline in other types of theft (for example bicycle theft and theft from the person) has been less marked. There have been clear improvements in building and vehicle security since the mid-1990s which have made houses and vehicles more difficult targets for thieves. However, the process of ‘target-hardening’ (making targets more resistant to attack by offenders) is more challenging for crimes like theft from the person (for example, pick-pocketing), robbery, or theft of unattended items (for example, a phone or wallet left on a restaurant table).

While there is little consensus on what has driven falling levels of property crime there is broad support for the view that improvements in building and vehicle security have been an important factor in driving reductions in burglary and vehicle crime. There is evidence to link property crime with drug addiction and recent analysis has shown a correlation between falling opiate and crack cocaine use and declining property crime trends in England and Wales. Other hypotheses include the impact of longer prison sentences in taking prolific offenders out of circulation and more effective and targeted policing activity (such as improved use of forensics).

Items targeted in theft, and how these have changed

The CSEW provides information on items that are stolen during offences involving theft of property. The survey shows that cash and wallets/purses have consistently been targets for thieves and such items continue to be stolen in a high proportion of offences. The 2013/14 CSEW shows that these were the most commonly stolen items in incidents of burglary in a dwelling and robbery, stolen in just under half of all incidents. However, as more people carry valuable electronic gadgets, these too have become desirable targets. For example, the latest data from the CSEW indicate that about half of theft from the www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/focus-on-property-crime--2013-14/sty-patterns-and-trends-in-property-crime.html?format=print 2/5 3/31/15 Patterns and trends in property crime - ONS person incidents involved the theft of a mobile phone, where previously cash and wallets/purses were most commonly stolen in this type of crime. Similarly, theft of electrical equipment such as satellite navigation systems occurs in about one fifth of incidents of theft from vehicles, a much higher proportion than ten years ago when more common targets for thieves were car radios and CDs.

The value of items is an important factor in driving trends in theft; for example the value of smartphones in the stolen goods market makes these items appealing targets for thieves. The targeting of high value items was also clear in domestic burglary in a dwelling where, after purses, wallets or money, the most commonly stolen items were computers/computer equipment and jewellery (stolen in nearly two fifths of domestic burglary incidents). Trends also show how as the value of item changes over time, their appeal as a target of theft also changes. For example, according to the 2013/14 CSEW items such as CDs and DVDs were stolen in just one in twenty domestic burglary incidents compared with around one in five a decade ago.

Items stolen in domestic burglary in a dwelling (2013/14 CSEW)

More recent drivers of change

The changing value of goods is also thought to have driven recent trends in the theft of metal. Between 2009/10 and 2011/12, the number of offences recorded by police under the offence category which covers theft of unattended items saw a 13% increase. The www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/focus-on-property-crime--2013-14/sty-patterns-and-trends-in-property-crime.html?format=print 3/5 3/31/15 Patterns and trends in property crime - ONS increase is believed to have occurred, in part, as a result of a surge in metal theft which coincided with a global spike in metal commodity prices. High scrap metal prices made targets such as copper cabling and lead roofing very attractive to thieves. Metal theft affects a wide range of industries, most notably telecommunications, power suppliers and travel services and incurs huge costs on businesses and causes disruption to customers.

More recently, police recorded crime data show that levels of metal theft have fallen (see Chapter 2 of ‘Focus on: Property Crime, 2013/14’ for the most recent statistics). These declines, illustrated in the chart, have occurred alongside a number of police and government initiatives to tackle the problem, including checking the identity of individuals selling scrap metal, banning cash payments for scrap metal, and the introduction of a licensing scheme for all scrap metal dealers.

Number of metal theft offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, 2012/13 to 2013/14

The internet and other new technology have provided a new modus operandi for criminals to commit acquisitive crime. While the crime statistics do not currently provide a full picture of cyber-crime, the CSEW gives an indication of how this is changing the nature of property crime. For example, the 2013/14 CSEW showed that 5.1% of plastic card owners were victims of card fraud in the previous year, a much higher rate of victimisation than traditional offences such as theft from the person (1.1%). In addition administrative data from Action Fraud (the national reporting centre for fraud and online crime) recorded over 200,000 offences reported to them by victims in 2013/14. This www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/focus-on-property-crime--2013-14/sty-patterns-and-trends-in-property-crime.html?format=print 4/5 3/31/15 Patterns and trends in property crime - ONS compares with 98,000 victims of theft from the person recorded by the police over the same period.

Who is most likely to be a victim of property crime?

According to the 2013/14 CSEW younger people were more likely to be victims across all types of property crime. Men and women showed similar levels of victimisation in most crime types, with the exception of theft from the person, where women were twice as likely to be victims of compared with men (1.5% of women were victims compared with less than 1% of men), and robbery, where men (0.4%) were twice as likely to be victims compared with women (0.2%).

The type of area in which people live was also an important factor in the likelihood of victimisation. Across all types of property crime those living in urban areas were more likely to have been victims than those living in rural areas. For example, according to the 2013/14 CSEW, 3.2% of those living in urban areas were victims of bicycle theft compared with in 1.1% rural areas.

For other characteristics such as employment status, occupation, household income, the likelihood of victimisation shows more variation across the different crime types. Some of the main findings show:

Households where the household reference person was unemployed (5.8%) were over twice as likely to be victims of domestic burglary compared with those where the reference person was in employment (2.7%) or economically inactive (2.3%). This was also true for bicycle theft.

Students were more likely to be victims than those in other groups. This was true for a number of crime types, including bicycle theft and theft from the person.

Respondents in higher-income households were more likely to be victims of plastic card fraud. For example, 7.1% of respondents in households with a total income of £50,000 or more were victims of plastic card fraud compared with 3.5% in households with a total income of less than £10,000.

Categories: Crime and Justice, Crime, Crime Trends, Property Crime, Crime in England and Wales, Burglary, Vehicle Related Crime

Content from the Office for National Statistics. © Crown Copyright applies unless otherwise stated.

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/focus-on-property-crime--2013-14/sty-patterns-and-trends-in-property-crime.html?format=print 5/5 12 February 2015

About this Release: Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2013/14

Coverage: England and Wales Date: 12 February 2015 Geographical Area: Local Authority and County Theme: Crime and Justice

Correction

20 February 2015 at 4:00pm

After identifying an error in published tables a minor revision has been made to this release. The error relates to numbers and rates of firearm offences for the following police force areas: Kent, Humberside, Kent, West Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, and Devon and Cornwall.

Revisions have been made to reference tables 3.01-3.14 (within reference table 02. Appendix Tables – Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences 2013/14), as well as figures 3.1, 3.2, 3.4-3.8 and table 3.2 in the statistical bulletin (also contained in reference table 01. Bulletin Tables – Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences 2013/14).

Key points

• The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) continues to show steady declines in violent crime over the last 20 years. Between the 1995 and the 2013/14 surveys, the number of violent crime incidents has fallen from 3.8 million in 1995 to 1.3 million in 2013/14. • Violent crime victimisation rates have fallen by more than half since peak levels of crime in the mid-1990s. In 1995 4.8% of adults aged 16 and over were a victim of violent crime in the previous year, compared with 1.8% in the 2013/14 survey. • Homicide has also shown a general downward trend since 2002/03. The number of currently recorded homicides for 2013/14 (526) and 2011/12 (528) were the lowest since 1989 (521). The number of homicides in 2013/14 was equivalent to 9.2 offences per million population. • As in previous years, children under one year old had the highest rate of homicide (23.9 offences per million population) compared with other age groups. With the exception of those aged under one year, adults generally had higher incidence rates of being a victim of homicide than children. • The numbers of sexual offences (64,205) in 2013/14 was the highest recorded by the police since 2002/03. As well as improvements in recording, this is thought to reflect a greater

Office for National Statistics | 1 12 February 2015

willingness of victims to come forward to report such crimes. The CSEW has not seen a rise in the prevalence of sexual assault. The latest estimates show a small fall in sexual assault victimisation rates compared with the previous year. • In 2013/14, there were 7,709 offences in which firearms were involved, a 5% decrease compared with 2012/13. Offences involving knives or sharp instruments fell by 2% between 2012/13 and 2013/14 (to 25,972). These falls follow a sustained downward trend over a number of years. • The profile of victims of violent crime and sexual violence varied according to the type of offence. The CSEW showed that young men were most likely to be the victims of violence, while in contrast young women were more likely to have experienced sexual assault (including attempts). • Women were also more likely to be a victim of domestic abuse, with 8.5% of women and 4.5% of men having experienced domestic abuse in the last year, equivalent to an estimated 1.4 million female victims and 700,000 male victims. • In 2013/14, as in previous years, around two-thirds of homicide victims (65%) were male. In contrast, victims killed by a partner or ex-partner were more likely to be women. • Victims perceived the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol in 53% of violent incidents. This is equivalent to an estimated 704,000 ‘alcohol-related’ violent incidents. While the volume of violent incidents that were ‘alcohol-related’ has fallen over time the proportion has remained relatively steady over the last ten years. Alcohol was a particularly prevalent factor in violent incidents between strangers, 64% of which were perceived to be alcohol-related.

Introduction

This release is a collaboration between ONS and Home Office analysts. It explores a variety of official statistics on violent crime and is based on interviews carried out on the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) in the year to March 2014 and crimes recorded by the police period over the same period. Trend analysis from both sources is included.

This release is split into five chapters, each covering a different aspect of violent crime. The first chapter provides an overview of violent crime, summarising the extent and range of violent crime together with an analysis of long term trends. It also explores information such as the characteristics of the victim and the offender, as well as where and when incidents took place.

The second chapter presents analyses of data gathered from the Home Office Homicide Index which includes murder, manslaughter and infanticide. The chapter discusses trends in homicide and puts the latest figures in the context of international comparisons. It also provides details on the characteristics of victims and suspects.

The third chapter presents findings on the use of weapons in selected offences recorded by the police including firearms, knives and sharp instruments. It includes information on how they are used, and the injuries caused, as well as describing the geographical distribution of these offences.

The fourth chapter uses data from a self-completion section on the 2013/14 CSEW which asks about experience of sexual and domestic violence. It describes offences occurring in the 12 months before the interview as well as those taking place since age 16. The chapter explores aspects of serious sexual assault and attitudes to sexual violence.

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The final chapter presents findings from the 2013/14 CSEW on violent incidents where alcohol has been a factor. Additional analysis on the nature of alcohol-related violence is also provided from the combined datasets of the 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW. This chapter also presents some information on alcohol-related violent crime recorded by the police.

The Data sources and references section and User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales give more details on each of the sources used in this release.

Background notes

1. If you have any queries regarding crime statistics for England and Wales please email [email protected].

2. A list of the organisations given pre-publication access to the contents of this bulletin can be found on ONS’ website.

3. In accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, statistics based on police recorded crime data have been assessed against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and found not to meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics. The full assessment report can be found on the UK Statistics Authority website.

4. Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available by visiting www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html or from the Media Relations Office email: [email protected]

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs; • are well explained and readily accessible; • are produced according to sound methods; and • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

You may use or re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit

Office for National Statistics | 3 12 February 2015

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected].

This document is also available on our website at www.ons.gov.uk.

Office for National Statistics | 4 12 February 2015

Chapter 1: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences - Overview

Coverage: England and Wales Date: 12 February 2015 Geographical Area: Local Authority and County Theme: Crime and Justice

Correction

20 February at 4:00pm

Summary

This overview covers statistics on violent offences recorded by the police and those measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). It also discusses CSEW data contained within the ‘Nature of Crime’ tables published alongside this release, which provide more detailed information on the circumstances of the offences. In addition it shows how rates of victimisation vary by different personal and area characteristics.

• The CSEW continues to show steady declines in violent crime. Between the 1995 and the 2013/14 surveys, the number of violent crime incidents has fallen from 3.8 million in 1995 to 1.3 million in 2013/14. • The number of violence against the person offences recorded by the police in 2013/14 rose by 6% from the previous year, following a period of year-on-year falls. It is thought that action taken by police forces to generally improve their compliance with national standards given the renewed focus on the accuracy of crime recording has led to more crimes being recorded than previously. • The number of sexual offences (64,205) in 2013/14 was the highest recorded by the police since 2002/03. As well as improvements in recording, this is thought to reflect a greater willingness of victims to come forward to report such crimes.

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• Violent crime covers a wide spectrum of offences. As seen in previous years, the less serious crimes of violence without injury accounted for the largest proportion (52%) of all CSEW violent incidents in the 2013/14 CSEW, while the more serious crimes of assault with minor injury and wounding accounted for lower proportions (24% and 23% respectively). • Reflecting the downward trend in the volume of incidents, victimisation rates have declined over time. For example, in 1995 (when CSEW violent crime was at its peak) 4.8% of adults aged 16 and over were a victim of violent crime in the previous year, compared with 1.8%, according to the latest survey. • The decrease in the volume of incidents of CSEW violence over this period has been influenced more by a fall in repeat victimisation than a fall in one-off victimisation. In 1995, 69% of violent crime incidents were experienced by repeat victims, compared with 54% in the 2013/14 CSEW. • Consistent with previous years, the proportion of adult victims of violent crime in the 2013/14 survey varied by personal and household characteristics. For example, males were more likely to be a victim of violent crime than females, as were adults aged 16 to 24 compared with all other age groups. Adults in low income households were more likely to be a victim than those in high income households. • In the 2013/14 CSEW, 50% of adult victims of a violent incident said that the police came to know about the matter, compared with 39% for all CSEW crime.

Introduction

Violent crime covers a wide range of offences, from minor assaults such as pushing and shoving that result in no physical harm through to serious incidents of wounding and homicide. Sexual offences include rape, sexual assault and unlawful sexual activity against adults and children, sexual grooming and indecent exposure.

Police recorded crime encompasses a full range of violent crimes and sexual offences, although is restricted to those crimes that have been reported to and recorded by them. The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) covers crimes against the population of England and Wales resident in households, and crimes against those households. It covers a narrower range of offences than police recorded violence, although it provides a good measure of the volume of violent crime offences as it is able to capture offences experienced by respondents that have not been reported to or recorded by the police. Therefore reported volumes of CSEW violent crime are higher than those included in the police recorded crime collection. The CSEW does not include homicides or sexual offences in its headline estimates, although it does contain a separate self-completion module which asks 16 to 59 year old respondents about their experience of intimate violence (see the ‘Intimate Personal Violence and Serious Sexual Assault’ chapter of this release). The CSEW also does not cover the population living in group residences (for example, care homes or halls of residence) or other institutions, nor does it cover the population not resident in households (for example, tourists or visitors), or crimes against the commercial or business sector.

In 2009, the CSEW was extended to cover children aged 10 to 15, and, where appropriate, data for this age group are presented in this overview chapter.

CSEW violent crime

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Violent crime statistics from the CSEW are presented under the overall category of ‘Violence’, and include offences involving violence with injury (wounding, assault with minor injury), and violence without injury. There are additional breakdowns for the offender-victim relationship. Changes to the CSEW violence category have recently been introduced in ONS publications following a consultation1 with users in 2012, relating to the presentation of crime statistics. Previously robbery, an offence in which violence or the threat of violence is used during a theft (or attempted theft), was included within CSEW ‘Violence’, but is now presented as a stand-alone category, consistent with the categorisation used for police recorded crime2.

Therefore, references to ‘violent crime’ and ‘violence’ within the CSEW-related text, figures and tables of this bulletin refer primarily to the CSEW crimes of wounding, assault with minor injury, and violence without injury. Some statistics relating to robbery are briefly discussed, although more detailed coverage of statistics on robbery can be found in Focus on Property Crime, 2013/14.

Police recorded violent crime

The coverage of police recorded crime is defined by the Notifiable Offence List3, which includes a broad range of violent offences, ranging from threats to kill, harassment, and assault without injury, to offences involving grievous bodily harm and homicide4.

In accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, statistics based on police recorded crime data have been assessed against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and found not to meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics. The full assessment report can be found on the UK Statistics Authority website. Data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) continue to be badged as National Statistics.

Additionally, following an inquiry by the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) into crime statistics in which allegations of under-recording of crime by the police were made5, HMIC carried out an inspection of the integrity of police crime recording during 2014.

The final report on findings from the HMIC inspections, ‘Crime-recording: making the victim count’, was published on 18 November 20146. Based on an audit of a large sample of records, HMIC concluded that, across England and Wales as a whole an estimated one in five offences (19%) that should have been recorded as crimes were not. The greatest levels of under-recording were seen for sexual offences and violence against the person offences, compared to lower levels for property related offences such as burglary and criminal damage. Nationally, an estimated one in four (26%) sexual offences and one in three (33%) violent offences that should have been recorded as crimes were not.

As a result of the renewed focus on the quality of crime recording by the police, caution should therefore be taken when interpreting statistics on police recorded crime. For more information see the ‘Accuracy of the Statistics’ section in the statistical bulletin, Crime in England and Wales, Year Ending September 2014.

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Notes

1. For more details see the ‘Future dissemination strategy for the publication of National Statistics on Crime in England and Wales’.

2. See the methodological note ‘Presentational and methodological improvements to National Statistics on the Crime Survey for England and Wales’ for more information.

3. The Notifiable Offence List includes all indictable and triable-either-way offences (which could be tried at a crown court) and a few additional closely related summary offences (which would be dealt with by a magistrate). For information on the classifications used for notifiable crimes recorded by the police, see Appendix 1 of the User Guide.

4. There are some crimes which are not captured in this bulletin, which may involve some degree of violence but which do not have a specific victim, for example, public order offences. See Appendix table A4, Year ending March 2014 for police recorded figures for public order offences.

5. Part of the evidence considered by PASC included analysis demonstrating a growing pattern of divergence between police recorded crime figures and CSEW estimates (see Methodological note: analysis of variation in crime trends) which has questioned whether there may have been a ‘gradual erosion of compliance’ with the NCRS from 2007.

6. Separate crime inspection force reports for each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales were published on 27 November 2014.

Extent of violent crime

The 2013/14 CSEW estimates that there were 1.3 million incidents of violence against adults in England and Wales1. Figure 1.1 shows that violence without injury (where the victim is punched, kicked, pushed or jostled with no resulting injury) accounted for just over half of all CSEW violent incidents (52%). Violence with injury is broken down into assault with minor injury (where the victim is punched, kicked, pushed or jostled with resulting minor injury, such as scratches or bruises) which accounted for 24% of violent incidents, and wounding (where the incident results in severe or less serious injury2) which made up 23% of incidents.

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Figure 1.1: Types of violent crime, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

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The CSEW also estimates crimes against children aged 10 to 15 resident in households3. The 2013/14 CSEW estimated that there were 445,000 violent offences4 against children in England and Wales in the previous 12 months. This equates to 6.5% of children being a victim of violent crime in the past year; with 4.5% having experienced violence with injury (Bulletin table 23a, Year Ending September 2014). These data are not directly comparable with the data related to adults (see Section 2.4 of Millard and Flatley, 2010 for further details). Being an offence-based collection, age of victims is not available from the aggregate returns that make up the police recorded crime series.

There were 634,462 violence against the person offences recorded by the police in 2013/145 . Of these, 322,737 were classified as violence with injury and the remaining 311,190 as violence without injury. Importantly, police recording of a crime is based on the element of intent rather than outcome. Therefore incidents classified as violence with injury will include crimes based on the deliberate attempt of the offender to cause serious bodily harm, regardless of whether any injury was sustained by the victim. Over half of violence without injury offences were classified as assaults without injury6

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(68%), with the remainder covering a range of offences, including harassments7 (Appendix table A4, Year Ending September 2014).

Notes

1. 'All violence' includes violence with injury (wounding, assault with minor injury), and violence without injury. For more information see Chapter 5.1 of the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales.

2. For example, cuts, severe bruising, chipped teeth, bruising or scratches resulting in medical attention or any more serious injury.

3. These are based on a ‘preferred measure’ that takes into account factors identified as important in determining the severity of an incident such as the relationship of the victim to the offender and the level of injury to the victim. See Chapter 2.5 of the User Guide for further information.

4. With regard to CSEW violent crime against children aged 10 to 15, robbery is presented under the category of ‘Violence’.

5. Recorded crime figures presented in this release are those notified to the Home Office and that were recorded in the Home Office database on 1st December 2014, covering the financial year 2013/14 – see Appendix table A4, Year Ending September 2014 for the full data table.

6. Assaults without injury offences are those where at the most a feeling of touch or passing moment of pain is experienced by the victim.

7. Harassment offences are those incidents where no other substantive notifiable offence exists, but when looked at as a course of conduct are likely to cause fear, alarm or distress.

Trends in violence

For the population groups and offences it covers, the CSEW is the best source for assessing long- term trends in violent crime as the survey’s methodology has remained consistent over time.

Figure 1.2 shows the trend in CSEW and police recorded violent crime. The number of incidents of CSEW violence increased through most years of the 1980s before reaching a peak in 1995. Between the 1995 and the 2001/02 surveys, the number of incidents of violent crime fell by 41%, from 3.8 million incidents to 2.3 million incidents, with more gradual decreases being recorded thereafter. The general trend over the last decade has been a continued period of modest annual decreases (though often not large enough to be statistically significant year on year). The cumulative effect of these changes has been statistically significant over the medium-term with the estimated number of violent incidents having decreased 25% between the 2008/09 survey and the 2013/14 survey (Figure 1.2) to 1.3 million incidents. Most of this decrease was between the 2012/13 and 2013/14 surveys (20%).

While the underlying trend from the survey clearly indicates that crimes of violence have been falling, the large fall of 20% seen in the 2013/14 survey compared with the previous year is likely to

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have been exaggerated by some quarterly estimates, which in the context of the longer term trend, appear anomalous (see Figure 4: Year Ending March 2014). Short-term trends in CSEW estimates, being based on a sample, can be subject to such fluctuation, and the rate of year-on-year reduction shown in the latest statistics for Year Ending September 2014 is an apparent smaller fall (11%), although this was not found to be statistically significant.

Figure 1.2: Trends in CSEW and Police Recorded Violent Crime, 1981 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office and Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics 2. Police Recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. The data on this chart refer to different time periods: a) CSEW - 1981 to 1999, police recorded - 1981 to 1997 refer to the calendar year (January to December). b) CSEW - 2001/02 to 2013/14, police recorded - 1998/99 to 2013/14 refer to the financial year (April to March). 4. The NCRS was introduced in April 2002, although some forces adopted NCRS practices before the standard was formally introduced. Figures before and after that date are not directly comparable.

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Violence against the person offences recorded by the police rose to a peak of 845,673 offences in 2004/05. This rise in violent crime is thought to have been attributable to major changes to the way that police record crime, including the expansion of the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) in

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April 19981, and the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in April 20022. Therefore levels of police recorded crime cannot be compared across the recording change.

Since then the number of offences has fallen by a quarter (25%), to 634,462 offences in 2013/14. While both the police recorded figures and the CSEW show reductions in violent crime between 2007/08 and 2012/13, the fall in police recorded crime (20%) was faster than that seen in the survey (8%), before increasing by 6% in the last year. This increase, which is in contrast to the 20% fall in the 2013/14 CSEW, is likely to have been driven by the police response to findings of two recent HMIC inspections.

Firstly, the ‘Crime-recording: making the victim count’ report published by HMIC found that violence against the person offences had the highest under-recording rates across police forces in England and Wales. Nationally, an estimated one in three (33%) violent offences that should have been recorded as crimes were not. Action taken by police forces to generally improve their compliance with the NCRS given the renewed focus on the accuracy of crime recording is likely to have resulted in an increase in the number of offences recorded3. Evidence from the Metropolitan Police Service4 supports this point, which shows an increase in the number of reports of violence being recorded as crimes. For more information see the ‘Accuracy of the Statistics’ section in the statistical bulletin, Crime in England and Wales, Year Ending September 2014.

Secondly, there has been an increase in the reporting of domestic abuse and subsequent recording of these offences by the police, which it is thought may be the result of improved response by police to domestic abuse following an HMIC inspection in 2013 on handling of domestic abuse incidents.

Increases in police force area data may reflect a number of factors including improved recording practice, increases in reporting by victims and also possibly some genuine increases in the levels of crime in some police forces5.

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Notes

1. The HOCR for recorded crime were expanded to include certain additional summary offences and counts became more victim-based (the number of victims was counted rather than the number of offences).

2. See Chapter 3.3 of the User Guide for further information.

3. For more information see the ‘Accuracy of the Statistics’ section in the statistical bulletin, Crime in England and Wales, Year Ending September 2014.

4. In evidence given by the Metropolitan Police Service to the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee on 13 November 2014 it was reported that the proportion of incidents of violence that were converted into recorded crimes rose from 40% to 75% between 2012 and 2014.

5. For further information on possible explanations of increasing police recorded crime levels see Chapter 3 of the User Guide.

Type of violence

Within the overall category of police recorded violence against the person, there were falls in both violence with injury (13%) and violence without injury (7%) in 2013/14 compared with 2002/03. An increase in offences was evident between 2012/13 and 2013/14, with violence with injury rising by 3% and violence without injury rising by 8% (Appendix table A4, Year Ending September 2014 (515 Kb Excel sheet)).

Figure 1.3 shows trends in CSEW violence by type of violence1, revealing large reductions across all violent crime types between current estimates and those in the mid to late 1990s. Assaults with minor injury have decreased by 76% between the peak in 1995 and the 2013/14 CSEW, while wounding and violence without injury decreased by 66% and 56% respectively over the same time period. Between 2012/13 and 2013/14, similar decreases were evident for both wounding, which fell by 34%, and assault with injury, which fell by 37%, while violence without injury rose by 2%.

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Figure 1.3: Trends in violence by type of violence, 1981 to 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics 2. The data on this chart refer to different time periods: a) 1981 to 1999 refer to crime experienced in the calendar year (January to December). b) 2001/02 to 2013/14 refer to crime experienced in the 12 months before interview, based on interviews in the financial year (April to March).

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Further evidence on trends in violent crime involving injury is available from administrative data collected from health services. These data will include some incidents not reported to the police and some populations not covered by the CSEW (e.g. those living students’ halls of residence, tourists, or homeless people). Statistics on NHS hospitals admissions show that for the 12 months to the end of March 2014 there were 31,243 hospital admissions for assault, a reduction of 5% compared with figures for the preceding 12 months2. In addition, research conducted by the Violence and Society Research Group at Cardiff University (Sivarajasingham et al., 2014) estimated that 234,509 people attended emergency departments or minor injury units in England and Wales for treatment following violence in 2013, 13% fewer people than in 2012. Their annual survey also shows an overall decrease of 12% in serious violence-related attendances in 2013 compared with 2012, and further indicates that trends in hospital data on violence fit well with CSEW patterns.

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Notes

1. See Chapter 5.1 of the User Guide for more information on the offences included in this breakdown.

2. Based on the latest National Health Service (NHS) Hospital Episode Statistics and hospital admissions due to assault (dated 15 July 2014). These do not include figures for Wales and relate to activity in English NHS hospitals.

Relationship between victims and perpetrators of violence

In addition to the type of incident and level of injury sustained, information is available to look at the relationship between victims of violence and their perpetrators.

Findings from the 2013/14 CSEW show that 42% of offences were perpetrated by a stranger1, 37% by an acquaintance2, and the remaining 21% were categorised as domestic violence (Appendix table A6, Year Ending September 2014). Domestic violence refers to incidents reported through the face-to-face interview questions, however it is important to bear in mind that domestic violence measured this way is prone to under-reporting; therefore the figure mentioned above is likely to be an underestimation. The separate self-completion section of the survey, collected on a comparable basis since 2004/05 and presented in the ‘Intimate Personal Violence and Serious Sexual Assault’ chapter, reveals higher levels of victimisation, and provides a greater level of detail3.

Figure 1.4 shows that incidents of CSEW domestic violence peaked in 1993 (1.1 million offences) and have since fallen by 75% to 280,000 offences in the 2013/14 survey; Incidents of stranger violence have fallen by 45% from the peak in 1995 (1 million offences) to 553,000 offences in the 2013/14 survey; and CSEW acquaintance violence fell by 73% from the peak in 1995 (1.8 million offences) to 2013/14 (0.5 million offences). Acquaintance violence in particular is a large-volume offence, and its substantial changes seen since the mid 1990s have been an important driver of changes in overall violence, and to some extent in overall CSEW crime.

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Figure 1.4: Trends in violent crime by type of offender, 1981 to 2013/14 CSEW

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Notes

1. Stranger violence includes wounding and assaults in which the victim did not have any information about the offender(s), or did not know and had never seen the offender(s) before.

2. Acquaintance violence is comprised of wounding and assaults in which the victim knew one of more of the offenders at least by sight. It does not include domestic violence.

3. The self-completion module gives a more accurate picture of the extent of domestic abuse as it uses a broader definition that includes emotional or financial abuse or threats to hurt the respondent or someone close to them.

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Trends in robbery

Robbery is an incident or offence in which force or the threat of force is used either during or immediately prior to a theft or attempted theft.

The CSEW covers robberies against individuals resident in households. Following a consultation1 with users there have been some presentational changes to CSEW robbery statistics which were implemented in July 2014. Robbery has previously been presented as a subcategory within the ‘Violence’ category, but following classification changes it is now presented as a stand-alone category in the CSEW, consistent with the classification used in police recorded crime2.

Robbery is a relatively low volume crime, and the small number of robbery victims interviewed in any one year means that the CSEW estimates are prone to fluctuation. Findings from the 2013/14 CSEW estimated that there were 166,000 robberies against adults in England and Wales. This is one of the lowest estimates since the survey began, and is half that of the level seen in the 1995 crime peak (Appendix table A1, Year Ending September 2014).

For additional information from the CSEW on robbery, including levels of victimisation, characteristics associated with being a victim, and nature of CSEW robbery, please see Focus on Property Crime, 2013/14.

The number of robberies recorded by the police provides a more robust indication of trends than the CSEW, although not all robberies are reported to the police. For more information on reporting rates for robbery, please see Focus on Property Crime, 2013/14.

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Figure 1.5: Trends in police recorded robbery by type of robbery, 2002/03 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics

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Robbery accounted for less than 2% of all police recorded crime in 2013/14, and around half of all robbery offences in England and Wales were recorded in London (Table P1, Year Ending March 2014). Figure 1.5 presents trends in police recorded robbery and shows a general downward trend in the number of robberies in England and Wales between 2002/03 and 2013/14, notwithstanding a notable rise between 2004/05 and 2006/07. The number of recorded robberies in 2013/14 is the lowest since the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in 2002/03 (57,814), and fell by 11% from the previous year (65,155) (Appendix table A4, Year Ending September 2014).

A similar downward trend is shown for both robbery of personal property and robbery of business property. The majority of robberies recorded by the police are those of personal property, accounting for 90% of the total number of robberies in 2013/14, with the remaining 10% made up of robbery of business property.

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Notes

1. For more details see the ‘Future dissemination strategy for the publication of National Statistics on Crime in England and Wales’.

2. See the methodological note ‘Presentational and methodological improvements to National Statistics on the Crime Survey for England and Wales’ for more information.

Sexual offences

The number of police recorded sexual offences in the year to March 2014 showed a 20% increase compared with the previous year, rising to a total of 64,205 incidents across England and Wales. This latest figure is the highest ever recorded on a financial year basis. Within this, the number of offences of rape increased by 26% to 20,745 incidents, and the number of other sexual offences increased by 17% to 43,460 incidents (Appendix table A4, Year Ending September 2014).

These increases should be seen in the context of Operation Yewtree and other high profile cases involving sexual abuse. While some of these increases will be a direct consequence of the historical crimes reported as part of Operation Yewtree, there is evidence to suggest that there has been a wider ‘Yewtree effect’. This refers to an increased willingness on the part of victims of sexual offences that are not directly connected to Yewtree to come forward to report both historical and recent sexual offences1.

Further insight into the ‘Yewtree effect’ can be provided by looking at the Home Office Data Hub, a record level dataset of police recorded offences2. Previous quarterly statistical bulletins have shown historical offences were the largest contributor to the increase in sexual offences. However, historical offences are now making less of a contribution to the overall rise whilst the contribution made by recent or ‘current’ offences has increased3. The 22 forces for which data were available show that the majority of the increase in sexual offences in 2013/14 occurred within the previous 12 months (62%).

Further evidence that the increase in police recorded sexual offences is a result of a ‘Yewtree effect’ comes from the 2013/14 CSEW. In the year to March 2014 the self-completion section of the CSEW showed a small but statistically significant decrease in the sexual assault victimisation rate compared with the previous year. Since incidents reported in the survey are unlikely to have been affected by Operation Yewtree, or the publicity surrounding it, the decrease suggests that sexual offences recorded by the police would not have been increasing at their current rate if it were not for the effects of Operation Yewtree.

Improved compliance with recording standards for sexual offences in some police forces may also have been a factor in the rise. The improvement in recording of sexual offences by the police comes after investigation by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) following allegations of under-recording of crime by the police. HMIC carried out an inspection of the integrity of police recorded crime (over the period December 2013 to August 2014) and the final report on their

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findings, ‘Crime-recording: making the victim count’, was published on 18 November 20144. HMIC concluded that the greatest levels of under-recording were seen for sexual offences and violence against the person offences; with regard to sexual offences in particular, nationally, an estimated one of four (26%) sexual offences that should have been recorded as crimes were not5.

More information on sexual offending from across the crime and criminal justice system can be found in ‘An Overview of Sexual Offending in England and Wales’. This is a joint publication compiled by the Ministry of Justice, Home Office and the Office for National Statistics which was published in January 2013, and used combined CSEW data from the years 2009/10 to 2011/12.

Additional Information from the CSEW

The following sections of the overview contain additional analysis from the CSEW including levels of victimisation, timing and location of incidents, reporting to the police, profile of offenders, impact on victims and use of weapons.

Notes

1. See HMIC’s 2013 report ‘Mistakes were made’.

2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

3. The Sexual Offences Act 2003, introduced in May 2004, altered the definition and coverage of sexual offences.

4. This refers to any sexual assault, including attempts.

5. Separate crime inspection force reports for each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales were published on 27 November 2014.

6. For more information see the ‘Accuracy of the Statistics’ section in the statistical bulletin, Crime in England and Wales, Year Ending September 2014.

Levels of victimisation

The CSEW provides victimisation rates for overall violence and for each individual crime type. Figure 1.6 shows that 1.8% of adults aged 16 and over were a victim of violence in the 2013/14 CSEW; 0.9% were a victim of violence without injury, 0.5% a victim of wounding, and 0.5% a victim of assault with minor injury.

Victimisation rates for violent crime have fallen considerably since 1995 when crime was at its peak. In 1995 the CSEW estimated that 4.8% of adults aged 16 and over were a victim of violence compared with less than half that figure on the 2013/14 survey (1.8%). Victimisation rates for all types of CSEW violence have dropped by more than half between 1995 and the 2013/14 survey (Appendix table A3, Year Ending September 2014).

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Figure 1.6: Violent crime, victimisation of adults aged 16 and over, 1995 and 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

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In the 2013/14 CSEW, 6.5% of children aged 10-15 were a victim of violent crime; 4.5% were a victim of violence with injury, and 2.2% were a victim of violence without injury1 (Annual trend and demographic table D3, Year Ending March 2014).

Notes

1. Some methodological differences between the adult and children’s survey mean that direct comparisons cannot be made between the adult and child victimisation data.

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Repeat victimisation

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, 73% of victims of violence were victimised once, while 27% were victimised more than once. This repeat victimisation can be broken down further, with 14% victimised twice, and 13% victimised three times or more (Annual trend and demographic table D5, Year Ending March 2014).

In 1995 when CSEW violence peaked, 69% of incidents were experienced by repeat victims, compared with 54% in the 2013/14 survey (Annual trend and demographic table D7, Year Ending March 2014). Between 1995 and the 2013/14 survey the number of incidents of violence experienced by repeat victims decreased by 73%, compared with a decrease of 48% in the number of incidents experienced by those who were victimised once. The decrease in the volume of incidents of violence over this period has therefore been influenced more by the fall in repeat victimisation than the fall in one-off victimisation. This pattern (repeated across most crime types) is an important factor in considering the drop in crime since the mid-1990s. For more information on repeat victimisation for other crime types, see Focus on Property Crime, 2012/13 (Chapter 2).

Characteristics associated with being a victim

The proportion of adult victims of violent crime in the 2013/14 survey varied significantly by certain personal and household characteristics (see Appendix tables 1.01 and 1.02 for a full breakdown). Many of the characteristics are closely associated, so caution is needed in the interpretation of these different characteristics when viewed in isolation. Separate analysis on the characteristics associated with being a victim of intimate personal violence is available in the ‘Intimate Personal Violence and Serious Sexual Assault’ chapter of this publication.

Figure 1.7 shows that, consistent with previous years, men were more likely to be a victim of violent crime than women (2.3% of males compared with 1.4% of females1). There is some variation when this is broken down by type of violence, with men more likely to be a victim of stranger violence than women (1.4% and 0.4%, respectively), and women more likely to be a victim of domestic violence than men (0.4% and 0.2%, respectively) (see Appendix tables 1.03). Also adults aged 16 to 24 were more than twice as likely to be a victim of violent crime than any other age group, and adults who were single were more likely to be a victim of violent crime (3.8%) than adults who were married (0.9%).

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Figure 1.7: Characteristics associated with being a victim of violence, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics 2. See Chapter 7.3 of the User Guide for definitions of personal characteristics.

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With regard to household characteristics, private renters were more likely to be a victim of a violent crime (2.9%) than home owners (1.2%), as were adults in low income households of less than £10,000 (2.6 %) compared with those in high income households of £50,000 or more (1.7%).

The chance of being a victim of violent crime also showed variations by personal and household characteristics for children aged 10 to 15. Children with a long-standing illness or disability were more than twice as likely to have been a victim of violence as those without one (13.0% compared with 5.9%) (this was not found to be statistically significant for adults), and children in low income households of less than £10,000 were over three times more likely (9.0%) to have been a victim than those in high income households of £50,000 or more (2.5%). The apparent boys were more likely than girls to have experienced violent crime (7.0% compared with 5.9%) was not statistically significant (Annual trend and demographic tables D3 and D4, Year Ending March 2014 (403 Kb Excel sheet)).

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Notes

1. This pattern is different for domestic violence and sexual violence. For more information please see the ‘Intimate Personal Violence and Serious Sexual Assault’ chapter of this publication.

Reporting to the police

In the 2013/14 CSEW, 50% of adult victims of a violent incident said that the police came to know about the matter. This is higher than for previous years, although it is too early to judge whether this is an early sign of increasing reporting rates or just a short term fluctuation. Annual trend and demographic table D8, Year Ending March 2014 (403 Kb Excel sheet)). This latest reporting rate for violence compares with a reporting rate for all CSEW crime of 39%.

Figure 1.8 shows that, as in previous years, variations continue to occur by violence type, with the police coming to know about 47% of incidents of assault with minor injury or no injury in 2013/14, compared with 59% of wounding incidents. This suggests that respondents are more likely to report more serious offences to the police. For information on the reporting rates of serious sexual assault see the ‘Intimate Personal Violence and Serious Sexual Assault’ chapter of this bulletin.

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Figure 1.8: Proportion of violent crime incidents reported to the police, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics 2. 'All violence' includes wounding, assault with minor injury or without injury. For more information see the User Guide.

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In the 2013/14 CSEW, 13% of violent incidents against children aged 10-15 became known to the police (Table 4.5 Nature of Crime tables (138 Kb Excel sheet)). This lower proportion compared with adults is likely to reflect the less serious nature of such incidents experienced by victims aged 10-15.

Timing of violent crimes

In the survey interview, victims of violent crime were asked about the circumstances of the incident, including when it happened. The 2013/14 CSEW indicated, as shown in Table 1.1 below, that

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violence occurs mostly in the evening or night (68%). Despite some year on year fluctuations, this general pattern is consistent with previous years, and also applies to all different categories of CSEW violence.

Looking at the days of the week on which violent offences take place, Table 1.1 shows that, for overall violence, 49% of incidents occurred during the week and 51% of incidents occurred at the weekend. It is probable that most of the incidents occurring at the weekend took place on Friday or Saturday night. Information on police recorded crime for 19 forces from the Home Office Data Hub1 supports this assertion, with Friday and Saturday showing the highest proportion of violent crimes recorded between the hours of 9pm to 3am (42% and 44% respectively). This may reflect the greater influence of alcohol consumption on these particular days and times (see the ‘Alcohol and Violence’ chapter for more information on temporal patterns). A higher proportion of wounding incidents occurred at the weekend (63%) compared with other types of violence.

In the 2013/14 CSEW, 86% of incidents of violence against children aged 10-15 occurred during the week and 14% of incidents occurred during the weekend. This means that the likelihood of a child aged 10 to 15 being a victim of violence is higher during the week. This highlights the different lifestyles of children compared to adults, and also reflects the fact that a large proportion of incidents occurred in and around school (62% of incidents) (Table 4.1 Nature of Crime (138 Kb Excel sheet)).

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Table 1.1: Timing of incident for types of violent crime, 2013/14 CSEW

England and Wales Percentage adults aged 16 and over/children aged 10 to 15 Timing All Violence Wounding Assault with Violence Violence minor injury without injury against Childen aged 10 to 15

Morning/ 32 29 30 34 .. Afternoon2

Evening/Night3 68 71 70 66 .. Unweighted 644 172 167 305 base

During the 49 37 44 56 86 week At the 51 63 56 44 14 weekend4 Unweighted 636 172 165 299 229 Base

Table notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics 2. Morning is from 6am to noon; afternoon is from noon to 6pm. 3. Evening is from 6pm to midnight; night is midnight to 6am. 4. Weekend is from Friday 6pm to Monday 6am.

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Notes

1. The Data Hub includes additional information provided by police forces, such as when an offence took place, as well as when it was recorded by the police.

Where violent crimes happen

In the 2013/14 CSEW, the location of where incidents of violent crime took place was found to vary by offender-victim relationship. Figure 1.9 shows that the large majority of incidents of domestic violence occurred at home (73%), compared with incidents of stranger violence which were most

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likely to occur in the street (38%) and in pubs or clubs (29%); incidents of acquaintance violence were most likely to take place at work (31%). Looking at the location of these incidents split by type of violent crime (Table 3.2 Nature of Crime (384 Kb Excel sheet)), incidents of wounding were equally likely to occur at home or in a pub or club (27% each). Incidents of violence without injury were more likely to happen at work than incidents of violence with injury (27% compared with 10%)1.

Figure 1.9: Location of where incidents of violent crime occurred, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

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Notes

1. Some methodological differences between the adult and children’s survey mean that direct comparisons cannot be made between the adult and child victimisation data.

Profile of offenders involved in violent crimes

Victims of violent crime were able to provide some detail about the offender(s) in 99% of incidents (Table 3.1 Nature of crime (384 Kb Excel sheet)). As with victims of overall crime, offenders were most likely to be male and aged between 16 and 24. In just under half of violent incidents (46%) the offender was believed to be aged between 16 and 24 years and in three-quarters of violent incidents the offender was male (75%). In 72% of violent incidents a sole offender was believed to have been involved, while in 14% of incidents, victims reported that four or more offenders were involved.

In 41% of violent incidents the offender was a stranger; in 39% the offender was well known to the victim and in 20% the offender was known by sight or to speak to. Partner abuse incidents such as sexual assault show their own patterns in offender characteristics, see ‘Intimate Personal Violence and Serious Sexual Assault’ chapter for more information.

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, victims believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol in around half (53%) of all violent incidents, or an estimated 704,000 offences1. In nearly a quarter (23%) or an estimated 304,000 violent incidents, the victim believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of drugs (Table 3.11 Nature of Crime (384 Kb Excel sheet)). For more information on alcohol-related violence see the ‘Alcohol and Violence’ chapter of this publication.

In the 2013/14 CSEW, in 95% of violent incidents against children aged 10-15 the victim was able to say something about the offender. Incidents of violence were most likely to be committed by someone ‘known well’ (48% of incidents). In 68% of violent incidents against children the offender was a pupil at the victim’s school and in 15% of incidents the offender was a friend (including boyfriend/girlfriend). In 15% of incidents the offender was a stranger, compared with 41% in violence against adults in the 2013/14 survey. In incidents of violence against children aged 10-15 the offender was most likely to be male (in 65% of incidents) and aged between 10 and 15 (79%) (Table 4.3 Nature of crime (138 Kb Excel sheet)).

Notes

1. Questions were asked if the victim was able to say something about the offender(s), which they could do in nearly all (99%) incidents. If there was more than one offender, victims were asked if any of the offenders were perceived to be under the influence. Questions were not asked if any offender was perceived to be under 10 years.

Impact on victims

The CSEW also asks victims about the impact of the crime they had experienced (Table 3.4 Nature of crime (384 Kb Excel sheet)). Figure 1.10 shows that in 77% of violent incidents the respondent

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was ‘emotionally affected’, including 22% who were affected very much. The proportion of violence victims who were very much emotionally affected was lower than that of victims of theft from a dwelling (34%) or theft of a vehicle (29%), but higher than other types of crime (for example, criminal damage, at 11%) (Figure 1.16 Focus on Property Crime, 2013/14 (303.5 Kb Excel sheet)).

When this is broken down by type of injury it can be seen that in 90% of incidents of wounding, victims stated they were ‘emotionally affected’, a higher proportion than seen for victims of assault with minor injury (76%) and victims of violence without injury (72%). In terms of the severity of the emotional impact, victims of wounding were the most likely to report that they were very emotionally affected (30%). The proportion of victims of violence without injury reporting that they were very emotionally affected was higher in the 2013/14 survey (20%) than seen in recent years, although this crime type also had the highest proportion of victims stating that they were not emotionally affected at all (28%).

The most common forms of emotional reaction to violent crimes in the 2013/14 CSEW were shock (44%) and anger (40%)1. The emotional reaction was broadly similar across different types of injury (Table 3.4 Nature of Crime (384 Kb Excel sheet)).

Figure 1.10: Emotional response to violent crime victimisation, 2013/14 CSEW

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Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

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Victims of violence were asked to rate the seriousness of each incident on a scale of 1 to 202. Figure 1.11 shows that, as in previous years, wounding was considered to be a more serious violent crime (mean score 8.9) than assault with minor injury (mean score 6.2) and violence without injury (mean score 6.7). Looking in more detail at the seriousness scores (Table 3.5 Nature of Crime (384 Kb Excel sheet)) in the 2013/14 survey, half of violence victims (54%) rated the incident in the least serious range (1-6), while 16% rated it in the most serious range (14-20).

Figure 1.11: Mean perceived seriousness score to violent crime, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

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Victims aged 10 to 15 were also asked about the seriousness of crimes they experienced. Based on the 2013/14 survey, 22% of violence victims aged 10 to 15 thought the incident was ‘a crime’, 45% thought it ‘wrong, but not a crime’, and 33% thought it ‘was just something that happens’. In addition, 55% of incidents were perceived by the victim to be part of a series of bullying incidents. In comparison, 52% of theft victims aged 10 to 15 perceived the incident to be a crime. This reflects the fact that the measure of violence against children aged 10 to 15 includes a large proportion of low level incidents which may involve a crime in law (e.g. one child deliberately pushing over another with the intention of hurting them) but which may not be viewed as serious enough to amount to a offence (Millard and Flatley, 2010).

Notes

1. Respondents can report more than one emotion.

2. Respondents are asked to use this scale, with “1 being a very minor crime like theft of milk bottles from a doorstep, and 20 being the most serious crime of murder”.

Use of weapons and injuries in violent crimes

According to the 2013/14 CSEW, in 19% of violent incidents a weapon was used (Table 3.9 Nature of Crime (384 Kb Excel sheet)). This is a fall of 7 percentage points since 2004/05 (26%), although the level of incidents involving a weapon has remained fairly stable since the 2008/09 survey. The most commonly used weapons in the 2013/14 survey were a knife or a hitting implement (each used in 6% of violent incidents).

In the 2013/14 CSEW, victims sustained a physical injury in 48% of incidents of violence. The most common type of injury in incidents of violence was minor bruising/black eye (27% of incidents). A lower proportion of incidents involved more serious injuries such as broken bones (3%), concussion or loss of consciousness (2%) or a broken nose (1%) (Table 3.7 Nature of Crime (384 Kb Excel sheet)).

In the 2013/14 CSEW, 8% of incidents against children aged 10 to 15 involved the use of a weapon. Knives, screwdrivers or stabbing implements were used in 44% of incidents involving weapons; sticks, clubs and hitting implements were used in 28% of incidents involving weapons and ‘something else’ was used in 25% of incidents involving weapons1 (Table 4.7 Nature of Crime (138 Kb Excel sheet))2.

The survey asks children about injuries sustained through violence. Based on the 2013/14 CSEW 71% of victims aged 10 to 15 sustained an injury and 15% of victims received some form of medical attention. Of those incidents where the victim aged 10 to 15 sustained an injury 64% had minor bruising/black eye and 22% had scratches. In 4% of violent incidents where the victim aged 10 to 15 sustained an injury this was a serious injury3 (Table 4.6 Nature of Crime (138 Kb Excel sheet)).

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Notes

1. Respondents could name more than one type of weapon, and so percentages add up to more than 100%.

2. Figures are based on analysis of a small number of victims and should be interpreted with caution.

3. Serious injury includes facial/head injuries, broken nose, concussion, broken bones.

Findings from the 2013 Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS)

The 2013 CVS1 examined the extent of crime across four business sectors in England and Wales in the previous twelve months2, including, among other crimes, the extent of assaults and threats. Assaults and threats were the most common crime among the accommodation and food service premises, making up 42% of all incidents against this sector (240,000 incidents). 15% of premises in this sector had experienced at least one such incident. Victims of this crime experienced a relatively high level of repeat victimisation, with an average of 13 incidents in the 12 months prior to interview. A small proportion of incidents were reported to have involved a knife (1%) or other weapon not including a firearm (6%). In 16% of the most recent incidents, employees had been physically hurt.

Assaults and threats made up 22% of all incidents in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector (thefts were the most common crime, accounting for 28% of all crime). 13% of premises had experienced assaults and threats, with an average of 8 incidents per victimised premises. An employee was physically injured in 10% of such incidents; while there were no reported incidents involving a knife or firearm, 5% of incidents reportedly involved some other weapon (e.g. baseball bat).

Among the wholesale and retail sector, 5% of crimes experienced were assaults or threats, with 8% of premises having experienced this crime in the previous 12 months. Less than 1% of assaults and threats in this sector involved a knife, and 1% involved some other weapon. A lower proportion of premises in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector had experienced assault or threats in the previous twelve months (4%), with an average of 4 incidents per victimised premises. Such crimes accounted for 11% of all crimes against this sector.

The proportion of incidents of assaults and threats reported to the police ranged from 36% in the wholesale and retail sector to 51% in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector, although this compares with much higher reporting rates across all sectors for burglary with entry, ranging between 79% (agriculture, forestry and fishing sector) to 88% (arts, entertainment and recreation sector).

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Notes

1. Results from the 2014 CVS will be published in April 2015.

2. The CVS is a telephone interview, for which the 2013 survey was based on 4,041 interviews with respondents at premises in the four industry sectors of wholesale and retail; accommodation and food; arts entertainment and recreation; and agriculture, forestry and fishing. Between them, these four sectors account for just over one-third of all business premises in England and Wales.

Summary of homicides, weapons and intimate personal violence (IPV) analysis

The following sections provide a short summary of the statistics presented in the remaining parts of this publication on homicides, weapons and intimate personal violence.

Homicide

There are two sources of homicide1 data; the Home Office Homicide Index and the main recorded crime data return. The Homicide Index is a record level dataset of every homicide that the police deal with in England and Wales. It is continually updated with revised information from the police and the courts and, as such, is a richer source of data than the main recorded crime dataset. Data presented in this publication are taken from a snapshot of the Homicide Index, frozen for analysis on 5 November 2014. Due to the different sources, figures presented here differ slightly from those presented in recent quarterly bulletins, which present homicide figures sourced from the main recorded crime return2.

The Homicide Index shows that in 2013/14, there were 526 currently recorded3 homicides in England and Wales, which is 21 fewer than the 547 recorded in 2012/13 (a decrease of 4%). Over recent years, the number of homicides has shown a general downward trend, the numbers for 2013/14 (526) and 2011/12 (528) being the lowest since 1989 (521). To put the number of homicides in context, the incidence rate for homicide remains relatively low, with 9.2 homicides recorded per million population during 2013/14.

Homicide figures may be compared with other causes of death; figures for 20134 show that more people were killed as a result of falls (4,251), intentional self-harm (3,977), and transport accidents (1,611). Fewer were killed by exposure to smoke, fire and flames (246) or accidental drowning or submersion (218).

For further information on homicide, see the ‘Homicide’ chapter of this publication.

Offences involving firearms

Due to the serious nature of offences involving weapons, additional information is supplied by the police to the Home Office on offences where firearms have been used. Offences relating to firearms are those where a firearm has been fired, used as a blunt instrument (hitting a victim with the

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weapon) or as a threat. Figures in this publication include air weapons offences, which are excluded from the provisional estimates released in Crime statistics, period ending March 2014.

Between 2012/13 and 2013/14, the total number of firearm offences fell by 5% from 8,135 to 7,709 with both air weapon and non-air weapon offences showing similar proportional decreases.

For further details on firearm offences see the ‘Recorded Offences Involving the use of Weapons’ chapter of this publication.

Offences involving knives or sharp instruments

For the selected offences5 where additional data on the use of knives or sharp instruments6 are collected, the police recorded 25,972 offences in 2013/14. This represents a 2% decrease on the previous year when 26,553 offences were recorded. Of the 25,972 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, 46% were as part of a robbery, 46% were used in offences of assault with injury/ assault with intent to cause harm, 5% were threats to kill, 1% were rapes and sexual assaults, 1% were attempted murder offences and 1% were homicides. Overall the proportion of selected violent and sexual offences involving a knife or sharp instrument was 6% in 2013/14, showing little change since 2010/11.

For further information see the ‘Recorded Offences Involving the use of Weapons’ chapter of this publication.

Domestic abuse and intimate personal violence

Intimate personal violence is a collective term used to refer to domestic abuse (which includes a number of different forms of physical and non-physical abuse)7, sexual assault8 and stalking9. It is difficult to obtain reliable information on the extent of intimate violence as there is a degree of under- reporting of these incidents, affecting both the CSEW and police recorded crime figures.

Due to the sensitivity of questions on intimate personal violence, a separate self-completion module is included in the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) which asks 16 to 59 year old respondents about their experience of intimate violence. Estimates of the prevalence of domestic violence (a narrower definition than domestic abuse) based on face-to-face CSEW interviews are regularly published10 and are discussed in an earlier section of this chapter, but this crime type is particularly liable to under-reporting in face-to-face interviews. This is due to the issue of willingness to disclose incidents in face-to-face interviews.

In the last year, 8.5% of women and 4.5% of men reported having experienced domestic abuse, equivalent to an estimated 1.4 million female victims and 700,000 male victims. There was no statistically significant change in the level of domestic abuse experienced in the last year between the 2012/13 and 2013/14 surveys. For more information see the ‘Intimate Personal Violence and Serious Sexual Assault’ chapter of this publication.

As well as questions on experience of intimate personal violence, the CSEW self-completion module also includes a set of questions asking victims for further details about the nature of the incidents they experienced. These questions focus in alternate survey years on partner abuse or

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serious sexual assault. The questions in the 2013/14 CSEW focused on the nature of serious sexual assault, and all the findings can be found in the ‘Intimate Personal Violence and Serious Sexual Assault’ chapter of this publication. For more information on partner abuse see Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13.

Notes

1. Homicide covers murder, manslaughter (including corporate manslaughter) and infanticide.

2. See Chapter 5.1 of the User Guide for more information on the two sources of homicide data.

3. See the ‘Homicide’ chapter for more information on ‘currently’ recorded homicides – the main police recorded crime collection showed 537 homicides for the same period.

4. See Table 5.19 of Mortality Statistics: Deaths registered in England and Wales (Series DR), 2013.

5. Seven of the more serious types of offence in the recorded crime data (homicide, threats to kill, assault with injury/assault with intent to cause harm, robbery, attempted murder, rape and sexual assault) can be broken down according to whether or not a knife or sharp instrument was involved.

6. A sharp instrument is any object that pierces the skin (or in the case of a threat, is capable of piercing the skin), for example a broken bottle.

7. Domestic abuse includes non-physical abuse, threats, force, sexual assault or stalking carried out by a current or former partner or other family member. ‘Domestic abuse’ is wider than the main CSEW ‘domestic violence’ category.

8. Sexual assault includes rape or assault by penetration including attempts (‘serious’), indecent exposure, sexual threats or unwanted touching (‘less serious’) carried out by any person.

9. Stalking includes, among other things, receiving obscene or threatening unwanted letters, e- mails, text messages or phone calls, waiting or loitering around home or workplace, or following or watching by any person, including a partner or family member.

10. See Appendix Table A3 of quarterly crime statistics publications.

References

Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), 2013, ‘Provisional Monthly Hospital Episode Statistics for Admitted Patient Care, Outpatients and Accident and Emergency Data – April 2012 to March 2013’

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), 2013, ‘Mistakes were made: HMIC’s review into allegations and intelligence material concerning Jimmy Savile between 1964 and 2012’

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Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), 2014a, ‘Crime data integrity force reports’

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), 2014b, ‘Crime-recording: making the victim count’

Millard and Flatley, eds. 2010, ‘Experimental statistics on victimisation of children aged 10 to 15: Findings from the British Crime Survey for the year ending December 2009 England and Wales’, Home Office statistical bulletin 11/10

MoJ, ONS, Home Office, 2013, ‘An overview of sexual offending in England and Wales’

Office for National Statistics, 2013a, ‘Analysis of variation in crime trends: A study of trends in ‘comparable crime’ categories between the Crime Survey of England and Wales and the police recorded crime series between 1981 and 2011/12’

Office for National Statistics, 2013b, ‘Presentational changes to National Statistics on police recorded crime in England and Wales’

Office for National Statistics, 2013c, ‘Future dissemination strategy for the publication of national Statistics on Crime in England and Wales’

Office for National Statistics, 2013d, ‘Focus on Property Crime, 2012/13’

Office for National Statistics, 2014a, ‘Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13’

Office for National Statistics, 2014b, ‘Presentational and methodological improvements to National Statistics on the Crime Survey for England and Wales’

Office for National Statistics, 2014c, Crime Statistics, period ending March 2014

Office for National Statistics, 2014d, ‘Mortality Statistics: Deaths Registered in England and Wales (Series DR)’

Office for National Statistics, 2014e, ‘Focus on Property Crime, 2013/14’

Office for National Statistics, 2015a, Crime Statistics, period ending September 2014

Office for National Statistics, 2015b, ‘User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales’

Public Administration Select Committee, 2013, ‘Crime Statistics, HC760: Evidence heard, Questions 1-135’

Public Administration Select Committee, 2014, ‘Caught red handed: Why we can’t count on police recorded crime statistics’

Sivarajasingam, V., Wells, J.P., Moore, S., Page, N. and Shepherd, J.P., 2014, ‘Violence in England and Wales in 2013: An Accident and Emergency Perspective’, Cardiff: Cardiff University

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UK Statistics Authority, 2014a, ‘Assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics: Statistics on Crime in England and Wales’

UK Statistics Authority, 2014b, ‘Types of official statistics’

Background notes

1. If you have any queries regarding crime statistics for England and Wales please email [email protected].

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs; • are well explained and readily accessible; • are produced according to sound methods; and • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

This document is also available on our website at www.ons.gov.uk.

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Chapter 2: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences - Homicide

Coverage: England and Wales Date: 12 February 2015 Geographical Area: Local Authority and County Theme: Crime and Justice

Summary

This chapter presents analyses of homicides recorded by the police in 2013/14. The information comes from the Home Office Homicide Index, which contains detailed record-level information about each homicide recorded by police in England and Wales. The database is continually updated with revised information from the police and the courts and, as such, is a richer source of data than the main recorded crime dataset.

• The Home Office Homicide Index showed there were 526 homicides (murder, manslaughter and infanticide) in 2013/14 in England and Wales. This is at a similar level to 2011/12 (528 offences) but 21 fewer than the 547 recorded in 2012/13 (a decrease of 4%). • Over recent years, the number of currently recorded homicides has shown a general downward trend and the numbers for 2013/14 (526) and 2011/12 (528) were the lowest since 1989 (521). • In 2013/14, there were 9.2 offences of homicide per million population. As in previous years, children under one year old had the highest rate of homicide (23.9 offences per million population) compared with other age groups. • With the exception of those aged under one year, adults generally had higher incidence rates of being a victim of homicide than children. For children aged one or over, homicide rates were higher for one to four year olds (6 per million) than for five to fifteen year olds (2 per million). • In 2013/14, as in previous years, around two-thirds of homicide victims (65%) were male. • There were 343 male victims of homicide in 2013/14, down 9% from 377 in the previous year. In contrast, the number of female homicide victims increased 8% from 170 to 183 victims. • There were differences between males and females in the pattern of relationships between victims and suspects. Women were far more likely than men to be killed by partners/ex-partners (46% of female victims compared with 7% of male victims), and men were far more likely than women to be killed by friends/acquaintances (40% of male victims compared with 8% of female victims). • In 2013/14, there were 46 homicide victims aged under 16 years. Half of these victims were killed by a parent or step-parent (50%, or 23 offences) and 4 (9% of victims) were killed by a stranger. • The most common method of killing continued to be by knife or other sharp instrument. In 2013/14, there were 202 victims killed in this way, accounting for over 1 in 3 (38%) homicides.

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• In 2013/14, 29 homicide victims (6% of the total) were killed by shooting, the same as in 2012/13 and the lowest number since 1980 (19 homicides).

Introduction

The term ‘homicide’ covers the offences of murder, manslaughter and infanticide. Murder and manslaughter are common law offences that have never been defined by statute, although they have been modified by statute. In this bulletin the manslaughter category includes the offence of corporate manslaughter which was created by the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 which came into force on 6 April 2008. The offence of infanticide was created by the Infanticide Act 1922 and refined by the Infanticide Act 1938 (section 1).

Data presented in this chapter have been extracted from the Home Office Homicide Index which contains detailed record-level information about each homicide recorded by police in England and Wales. It is continually updated with revised information from the police and the courts and, as such, is a richer source of data than the main recorded crime dataset. Data presented here therefore differ slightly from the homicide figures presented in the Crime in England and Wales quarterly releases1.

In accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, statistics based on police recorded crime data (including figures from the Homicide Index) have been assessed against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and found not to meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics. The full assessment report can be found on the UK Statistics Authority website2. Further information on the interpretation of recorded crime data is provided in the User Guide.

Homicide Index data are based on the year when the offence was first recorded, not when the offence took place or when the case was heard in court. While in the vast majority of cases the offence will be recorded in the same year as it took place, this is not always the case. The data refer to the position on 5 November 2014, when the Homicide Index database was ‘frozen’ for the purpose of analysis3. The data will change as subsequent court hearings take place or as other information is received.

Caution is needed when looking at longer-term homicide trend figures, primarily because they are based on the year in which offences are recorded by the police rather than the year in which the incidents took place. For example, the 172 homicides attributed to Dr Harold Shipman as a result of Dame Janet Smith’s inquiry took place over a long period of time but were all recorded by the police during 2002/03. Also, where several people are killed by the same suspect, the number of homicides counted is the total number of victims killed rather than the number of incidents. For example, the victims of the Cumbrian shootings committed by Derrick Bird on 2 June 2010 are counted as 12 homicides rather than one incident in the 2010/11 data.

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Notes

1. Provisional homicide figures published in the Crime statistics, period ending March 2014 release showed 537 homicides recorded in 2013/14 and 558 for 2012/13. The corresponding figures from the Homicide Index were 526 and 547.

2. UK Statistics Authority.

3. The Homicide Index is continually updated with revised information from the police as investigations continue and as cases are heard by the courts. The version used for analysis does not accept updates after it is ‘frozen’ to ensure the data do not change during the analysis period. See Section 3.1 of the User Guide for more information.

Offences recorded as homicide

Figure 2.1 shows the rates of homicides recorded in each year for the last 50 years. Homicides increased from the 1960s up to the early 2000s (the peak in 2002/03 includes 172 homicides committed by Dr Harold Shipman). There has been a general downward trend since 2002/03.

The total number of offences recorded as homicide in 2013/14 was 526. This represents a decrease of 21 offences (4%) from the 547 recorded for 2012/13, returning to a level similar to 2011/12 (528 offences)1. The 2013/14 and 2011/12 figures were the lowest and second lowest numbers respectively since 1989, when 521 homicides were recorded.

There were 343 male victims of homicide in 2013/14, down 9% from 377 in the previous year and continuing a generally downward trend. In contrast, the number of female homicide victims increased from 170 to 183 victims (an 8% increase), although this is still lower than in previous years.

When the police initially record an offence as a homicide it remains classified as such unless the police or courts decide that a lesser offence, or no offence, took place. In all, 536 deaths were initially recorded as homicide by the police in 2013/14. This means that by 5 November 2014, 10 were no longer recorded as homicides2, giving the total 526 offences currently recorded as homicides.

To put the actual number of homicides in context, incidence rates show the volume of offences as a proportion of the resident population. The incidence rate for homicide remains relatively low, with 9.2 homicides recorded per million population during 2013/14, the lowest homicide rate since the late 1970s (for example, there were 8.5 homicides per million population in 1977). If the 172 homicides committed by Harold Shipman recorded in 2002/03 are excluded from the analysis, homicide rates peaked in 2001/02, at 15.2 offences per million population3 (Figure 2.1).

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Figure 2.1: The incidence rate per million population for homicide offences currently recorded by the police in England and Wales, 1967 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office 2. Year 1987 includes 15 victims of Michael Ryan. 3. Year 2000/01 includes 58 Chinese nationals who suffocated in a lorry en route into the UK. 4. Year 2002/03 includes 172 victims of Dr Harold Shipman. 5. Year 2003/04 includes 20 cockle pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay. 6. Year 2005/06 includes 52 victims of the 7 July London bombings. 7. Year 2010/11 includes 12 victims of Derrick Bird’s Cumbrian shootings. 8. Click on image to view an enlarged version.

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Homicides are relatively low-volume events compared to most other types of crime, and year-on- year variations need to be interpreted with some caution. However, an analysis of trends (discussed within ‘Statistical interpretation of trends in homicides’ of the 2011/12 report) showed the reduction in homicides in recent years was statistically significant and indicates a real fall in this offence rather than merely a consequence of random year to year variation.

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Notes

1. In Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences 2012/13, the number of currently recorded homicides was 551, four higher than the 547 shown as homicides for 2012/13 in this publication. Such changes between publications years is common as police investigations continue and as more cases are concluded at court.

2. For example, following further investigation the police determined that the case was a suicide not a homicide.

3. In 2002/03, the rate of homicide was 17.9 homicides per million population. If the 172 Harold Shipman homicides recorded that year are excluded, the rate would have been 14.7 offences per million population.

Case outcomes

The circumstances surrounding a homicide may be complex and it can take time for cases to pass through the criminal justice system (CJS). Due to this, the percentage of homicides recorded in 2013/14 (and, to a lesser extent, those recorded in earlier years) that have concluded at Crown Court is likely to show an increase when the next figures from the Homicide Index are published in twelve months’ time. Conversely, the proportion of cases without suspects or with court proceedings pending is expected to decrease as police complete more investigations and as cases pass through the CJS (see ‘Suspects’ section within this chapter for further details).

Where there are multiple suspects in a homicide case they are categorised in the Homicide Index as either the principal or a secondary suspect. There is only ever one principal suspect per homicide victim. If there is any conviction information available then the suspect with the longest sentence or most severe conviction is determined to be the principal suspect. In the absence of any court outcome, the principal suspect is either the person considered by the police to be the most involved in the homicide or the suspect with the closest relationship to the victim.

As more than one person can be convicted for a single homicide, the number of people convicted will not necessarily be the same as the number of victims recorded. However, if the outcome of only the principal suspect in each case is examined (that is, one suspect per victim), this can provide a more direct comparison to the case outcome of each homicide.

Of the 526 cases currently recorded as homicide in 2013/14, data on the case outcomes of the principal suspects at 5 November 2014 showed (Appendix Table 2.02 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)):

• court proceedings had resulted in homicide convictions in 239 cases (45%); • court proceedings were pending for 176 cases (33%); • proceedings had been discontinued or not initiated or all suspects had been acquitted in 15 cases (3%); • suspects had committed suicide in 24 cases (5%); and • no suspects had been charged in connection with 69 cases (13%).

Office for National Statistics | 5 12 February 2015

These figures are similar to those published last year for 2012/13. Analysis of homicide suspects is included in the ‘Suspects’ section.

Victims

In 2013/14, around two-thirds of homicide victims were male (65%, 343 victims) and one-third were female (35%, 183 victims). The proportion of victims that were male was slightly lower than that in previous years (68-69% were male in the previous five years). Among those victims aged under one year old, 53% were male.

There was a decrease in the number of male victims in 2013/14 compared with the previous year (down 9% from 377 to 343) while the number of female victims increased 8% from 170 to 183.

The homicide rate has consistently been higher for males than for females (Figure 2.2). In 2013/14 the homicide rate for males (12.2 per million population) was almost twice that for females (6.3 per million population) (Appendix Table 2.03 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

Figure 2.2: Homicide offences currently recorded by the police in England and Wales, by sex of victim, 1996/97 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office 2. Year 2002/03 includes 42 male and 130 female victims of Dr Harold Shipman.

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Office for National Statistics | 6 12 February 2015

Method of killing

As in previous years, the most common method of killing for both male and female victims was by a knife or other sharp instrument, with 202 such homicides (38% of total) recorded in 2013/14 compared with 194 (35%) in 2012/13 (Appendix Table 2.04 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). Although the absolute number of homicides committed by knives or sharp instruments has fallen slightly over recent years the proportion of homicides committed by this method has only fluctuated slightly from year to year.

The second most common method of killing in 2013/14 was ‘kicking or hitting without a weapon’, accounting for 103 homicides (20% of the total), a figure that has remained roughly a fifth over the last decade.

In 2013/14, 29 homicide victims were killed by shooting, the same as the previous year and the lowest number since 1980 (19 homicides).

Similar proportions of male and female victims were killed by a sharp instrument or by a blunt instrument but there were gender differences in other methods. For example while hitting and kicking without a weapon was the second most common method for male victims, for female victims, it was strangulation or asphyxiation (33 homicides in 2013/14; 18% of female homicides). Differences in methods of killing by sex of victim are shown in Figure 2.3 and are likely to reflect differences in victim/suspect relationships as discussed in a section below.

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Figure 2.3: Offences currently recorded as homicide by apparent method of killing and sex of victim, 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office 2. ‘Other’ includes all other apparent methods and where the method is unknown.

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Relationship between victim and principal suspect

Data on relationship of victim to principal suspect for 2013/14 show similar findings to previous years. There were differences between males and females in the pattern of relationships between victims and suspects. Female victims were more likely than male victims to have been acquainted with the principal suspect (80% and 54% respectively).

In particular, women were far more likely than men to be killed by partners/ex-partners (46% of female victims compared with 7% of male victims), and men were far more likely than women to be killed by friends/acquaintances or strangers (40% and 32% respectively of male victims compared

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with 8% of female victims for both categories). (Appendix Table 2.05 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet); Figure 2.4)1.

Figure 2.4: Relationship of victim to principal suspect by sex of victim, 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office

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To account for differences by age in victim relationships to principal suspect, the analysis in the next two sections reports on victims aged 16 and over and victims aged under 16 separately.

Notes

1. The relationship between victim and principal suspect is not always known and, for the purposes of this analysis, such cases have been included in the ‘stranger’ category. Stranger category includes: business associate, police/prison officer killed in the course of duty, stranger (terrorist/ contract killing and other) and where there is insufficient information about the suspect to determine relationship to victim.

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Victims aged 16 years and over

There were large differences in the victim-suspect relationship between men and women. In 2013/14, just over half (53%) of female victims aged 16 or over were killed by their partner/ex- partner1 (84 offences). This is similar to that found in 2012/13 (54%) and broadly similar to previous years.

In contrast, only 7% of male victims aged 16 or over were killed by their partner/ex-partner in 2013/14 (23 offences) a percentage that is similar to previous years (Appendix Table 2.06 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet), Figure 2.5).

Figure 2.5: Number of homicide victims aged 16 and over killed by partner/ex-partner, by sex of victim, 2003/04 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office

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Around two-fifths (42%) of male victims aged 16 or over were killed by a friend/acquaintance in 2013/14 (similar to that found in 2012/13, 39%). In contrast, female adult victims were less likely than men to be killed by a friend/acquaintance, at 9% of homicides in 2013/14 (14 offences).

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In 2013/14, around one-third of male victims (108 males, 34%) and around one in twelve female victims (13 females, 8%) aged 16 and over were killed by strangers.

Notes

1. Partner/ex-partner includes the sub-categories 'spouse, cohabiting partner, boyfriend/girlfriend, ex-spouse/ex-cohabiting partner/ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, adulterous relationship, lover’s spouse or emotional rival'.

Victims aged under 16 years

In 2013/14, there were 46 victims under 16 years of age, compared with 67 victims in the previous year. Of the 526 offences currently recorded as homicide in 2013/14, 9% involved victims under the age of 16, a slightly lower proportion than the 12% in 2012/13 and the same as the proportion in 2011/12 (Appendix Table 2.03 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). There were differences in this pattern between males and females; 6% of all currently recorded male homicide victims were aged under 16, whereas 14% of female homicide victims were aged under 16, similar to that found in previous years.

As in previous years, the majority of victims aged under 16 were acquainted with the principal suspect (59%, 27 offences), and in all but four of these cases they were killed by a parent or step- parent (Figure 2.6).

Proportionally few homicides of those aged under 16 are committed by strangers. The victim was known to have been killed by a stranger in 4 offences in 2013/14 (9%). This has varied between one and 15 offences in each year over the last decade.

As of 5 November 2014, there were 15 victims aged under 16 (33%) for whom no suspect had been identified, a higher proportion than among adult victims (11%). This number is likely to fall as police investigations continue. For example, Table 2.07 in the 2012/13 release showed that for homicides of victims aged under 16 recorded in 2012/13, there were 13 for whom there was no suspect. This had fallen to eight by the time the Homicide Index was frozen for analysis on 5 November 2014. (Appendix Table 2.07 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

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Figure 2.6: Victims under 16 years of age, by relationship of victim to principal suspect, 2011/12 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office

2. Figures are likely to change as cases progress through the courts and more information becomes available. Download chart

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Focus on partner/ex-partner homicides

As previously shown, around half of female victims aged 16 and over, and around 1 in 14 male victims aged 16 and over, were killed by their partner or ex-partner. This section looks in more detail at the characteristics of the victims and the homicides. Partner/ex-partner includes the sub- categories 'spouse, cohabiting partner, boyfriend/girlfriend, ex-spouse/ex-cohabiting partner/ex- boyfriend/girlfriend, adulterous relationship, lover’s spouse or “emotional rival”1'.

Due to the relatively low volume of homicides there can be considerable year-to-year variability, and so this analysis combines data for a three-year period (2011/12 to 2013/14) to provide more robust results. Figures in this section are compared with homicides where the relationship was not ‘partner/ ex-partner’2.

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Male victims of partner/ex-partner homicides were slightly older on average than other male homicide victims (46 compared with 39 years old). In contrast, female victims of partner/ex-partner homicides were younger than other female homicide victims (40 compared with 54 years old). (Table 2.1 and Appendix table 2.08 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet))

Male victims of partner/ex-partner homicides were more likely to be White than other ethnic groups (91%), but the difference among female victims of partner/ex-partner homicides was slightly less marked (73%).

The method of killing showed a different pattern among male victims of partner/ex-partner homicide:

• 60% of male victims of partner/ex-partner homicide were killed with a sharp instrument, compared with 39% for other male victims aged over 16. • 11% of male victims of partner/ex-partner homicide were killed by hitting or kicking without a weapon, compared with 26% of other male homicide victims aged 16 and over.

The difference was less marked for women where 45% of partner/ex-partner homicide victims were killed with a sharp instrument, compared with 34% of other female homicide victims aged 16 and over. Conversely, 24% of female victims of partner/ex-partner homicide were killed by strangulation, compared with 18% of other female homicide victims aged 16 and over.

All but one of the female partner/ex-partner homicide victims were killed by a male suspect, whereas among men, around a third of partner/ex-partner homicide were killed by a male suspect. The majority of these, 14 out of 21, were committed by the spouse of the victim’s lover or “emotional rival”. Among other adult homicides, 95% of male and 89% of female victims aged 16 or over were killed by a male suspect (Table 2.1).

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Table 2.1: Characteristics of partner/ex-partner[2] homicides for victims aged 16 and over, combined data for 2011/12 to 2013/14[3]

Victims partner/ex-partner Victims other homicides aged 16 homicides aged 16 and over and over Male Female All Male Female All

Average 46 40 41 39 54 42 age of victim

Ethnicity Percentages of victim4 White 91 73 76 75 86 77 Black 4 9 8 13 4 12 Asian 5 13 11 7 6 7 (Indian sub- continent) Other 0 4 3 3 2 2

Method of killing Sharp 60 45 48 39 34 38 instrument Blunt 11 11 11 9 9 9 instrument Hitting, 11 6 7 26 11 23 kicking, etc. Strangulation, 5 24 21 4 18 6 asphyxiation

Other 5 14 14 14 22 28 23

Gender of suspect 6 Male 37 99 88 95 89 94 Female 63 0 12 5 11 6

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Victims partner/ex-partner Victims other homicides aged 16 homicides aged 16 and over and over Male Female All Male Female All

All 100 100 100 100 100 100 homicide victims aged 16 and over

Table notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office 2. Partner/ex-partner includes the sub-categories 'spouse, cohabiting partner, boyfriend/girlfriend, ex-spouse/ex- cohabiting partner/ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, adulterous relationship, lover’s spouse or emotional rival'. 3. As at 5 November 2014; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. 4. Total includes 4 homicides where the ethnicity of the victim was 'not known' or 'not recorded'. 5. Includes shooting, explosion, burning, drowning, poison or drugs, motor vehicle, other and not known. 6. Includes 1 homicide with no suspect. 7. 0 denotes < 0.5%.

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Notes

1. “Emotional rival” is defined as those instances where two persons come to know or meet each other through their association or knowledge of a third person, and where their emotional or sexual interest in this third person brings them into direct conflict with each other.

2. Also excludes those aged under 16 years old.

Circumstances of the homicides

A half (50%, or 263 offences) of all homicide cases in 2013/14 resulted from a quarrel, a revenge attack or a loss of temper. This proportion was higher where the principal suspect was known to the victim (59%), compared with when the suspect was unknown to the victim (34%). 7% of homicides (35 offences) occurred during robberies or burglaries and another 7% (38 offences) were attributed to irrational acts1. As at 5 November 2014, the apparent circumstances were not known for 16% of homicides (85 offences) recorded in 2013/14 (Appendix Table 2.09 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). This figure is likely to decrease as the police carry out further investigations.

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Notes

1. These figures for irrational acts do not account for all homicides committed by mentally disturbed people, as offences with an apparent motive (for example, during a quarrel or robbery) are instead included under the respective circumstance. Higher overall totals for homicides committed by mentally disturbed people are quoted elsewhere (NCI, 2014).

Location of the homicides

Information on the location of homicides has been collected since April 2007, and is shown here for the first time. Over a half (59%, or 309 offences) of all homicide cases in 2013/14 occurred in a house or dwelling. This proportion was slightly higher in the most recent four years. Around a fifth (19% of homicides (102 offences) ) occurred in a street, footpath or alleyway and 7% took place in an open outdoor area1.

The pattern was different for males and females, reflecting victim-suspect relationships. The majority of female homicides (84%, 153 offences) took place in a house or dwelling compared with 45% of male homicides (156 offences). Over a quarter of male homicides took place in a street, path or alleyway (92 offences) compared with only 5% of female homicides (10 offences). (Appendix Table 2.10 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet) and Figure 2.7)

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Figure 2.7: Offences currently recorded as homicide by location of homicide and sex of victim, 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office

2. 'Other' includes all other locations including unknown. Download chart

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Notes

1. ‘Open outdoor area’ here includes the category from the Homicide Index and car parks.

Homicide risk for different age groups

Analysis and commentary in this section focuses on data combined from the last three years (2011/12 to 2013/14) to allow a greater breakdown of age groupings, including by sex (Figure 2.8; Appendix Table 2.11 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

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Previous analysis of Homicide Index figures has consistently shown that children under the age of one have the highest rate of homicide per million population (Appendix Table 2.03 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)) and the analysis here shows that they were disproportionately represented, accounting for 3% of homicide victims but only 1% of the population (Appendix Table 2.11 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

Victims aged between 20 and 49 years old also formed a disproportionately large number of victims compared with the population profile, particularly so for those in the 20 to 24 years age group. While 7% of the population were aged 20 to 24, this age group accounted for 11% of homicide victims (184 victims).

The relatively high incidence rate among 20 to 24 year olds was largely due to the higher incidence rate amongst males in this age group. While 7% of the male population were aged 20 to 24, this age group accounted for 12% of male homicide victims (133 victims).

The distribution among females is more even than for males, but there was still a disproportionately high number of female victims aged between 20 and 44 years old compared with the population profile (40% of female homicide victims were aged between 20 and 44 years old, whereas 33% of the female population was covered by these age groups).

A disproportionately small number of victims were in the age groups 5 to 9 years and 10 to 14 years. For example, while 6% of the population were aged 10 to 14 years old, this age group accounted for 1% of homicide victims (14 victims).

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Figure 2.8: Age and gender profile of currently recorded homicide victims compared with population, combined years 2011/12 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office

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In previous reports, additional analysis was conducted on the ethnicity, sex, age and method of killing of victims and their inter-relationships. There were differences in the sex and age profile and method of killing by ethnicity and the results are discussed in the 2012/13 report.

Suspects

Definition of homicide suspect

For the purposes of the Homicide Index, a suspect in a homicide case is defined as:

(i) A person who has been arrested in respect of an offence initially classified as homicide1 and charged with homicide; or

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(ii) A person who is suspected by the police of having committed the offence but is known to have died or committed suicide prior to arrest/being charged.

More than one suspect may be charged and tried per homicide victim and in some cases no suspect is ever brought to trial (Table 2.2). Due to this, the number of suspects is not the same as the number of offences. It should also be noted that the number of cases with no suspect will reduce as the police continue their investigations.

Table 2.2: Number of suspects for currently recorded homicide victims, 2011/12 to 2013/14

England and Wales

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 Number Percentage No 6 11 10 suspects 44 76 70 charged One 55 48 49 378 344 353 Two 16 19 15 108 134 110 Three or 24 23 26 more 163 165 186

All initially 100 100 100 recorded 693 719 719 homicides

Table notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office

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In total, there were 649 suspects (Appendix Table 2.13 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)) as at 5 November 2014 relating to 536 homicides initially recorded in 2013/14. Of these:

• court proceedings had concluded for 355 suspects (55% of all suspects). • court proceedings were pending for 268 suspects (41%). • twenty-three suspects had committed suicide or died (4%), and the remaining 3 suspects had no proceedings taken on advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Appendix Table 2.13 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

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For those suspects where proceedings had concluded, 90% were male (338 suspects) and 10% were female (38 suspects) (data not shown).

Among male suspects:

• over half (57%) of those indicted for a homicide offence and with a court outcome were convicted of murder, • three in ten (32%) were convicted of manslaughter, • fewer than one in ten (7%) were acquitted or their proceedings were discontinued • and one in twenty (4%) had another outcome2.

For females indicted for homicide with a court outcome,

• under half (44%) were convicted of murder, • around one fifth (21%) of manslaughter, • one in ten (10%) of infanticide, • one in ten (10%) were acquitted or had their proceedings discontinued and • one in seven (14%) had another outcome.

In the time period 2011/12 to 2013/14, 81% of suspects indicted for homicide (murder, manslaughter or infanticide) with a court outcome were found guilty of homicide and 13% were acquitted (Appendix Table 2.14 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). Similar criminal justice statistics produced by the MoJ show that the conviction ratio (the number of convictions within a given period divided by the number of prosecutions in the same period) for homicide offences in 2013 was 81%. This is a relatively high conviction ratio and, for example, compares with 69% for violence against the person offences, and 76% for burglary offences.

The case outcomes for suspects of homicides recorded in 2013/14 (Figure 2.10) are likely to change as cases progress through the CJS and more information becomes available. As such, cases from previous years are more likely to have concluded at court. This is illustrated in Figures 2.9 and 2.10 which show the court outcomes for all suspects of homicides recorded in 2009/10 and 2013/14 respectively. While 41% of the suspects in homicides recorded in 2013/14 were awaiting court proceedings, proceedings were pending for only 14% of the cases recorded in 2009/10. Conversely, 47% of the suspects of homicides recorded in 2013/14 had been to court and been convicted of homicide compared with 60% of those recorded in 2009/10.

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Figure 2.9: Current outcomes [2] for suspects of homicides recorded in 2009/10

Notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office

2. (As of 5 November 2014) 3. ‘Other outcome’ includes suspect unfit to plead, proceedings concluded with other outcome, suspect committed suicide or died and the cases where no court proceedings were taken. Download chart

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Office for National Statistics | 22 12 February 2015

Figure 2.10: Current outcomes[2] for suspects of homicides recorded in 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office

2. As of 5 November 2014 3. ‘Other outcome’ includes suspect unfit to plead, proceedings concluded with other outcome, suspect committed suicide or died and the cases where no court proceedings were taken. Download chart

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Notes

1. The homicide may no longer be recorded as such if all the suspects were acquitted.

2. ‘Other outcome’ includes suspect unfit to plead, proceedings concluded with other outcome, suspect committed suicide or died and the cases where no court proceedings were taken.

Previous homicide convictions

The Homicide Index shows that in 2013/14 there were 5 convictions for homicide offences for suspects who had a previous conviction for homicide. As more cases are concluded at Crown Court, this figure may change. For homicide offences recorded in 2012/13, there were 3 people

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convicted of homicide who had a previous conviction for homicide (Appendix Table 2.16 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

For homicide offences recorded between 2003/04 and 2013/14, in total, 47 people who were convicted of a homicide offence had a previous conviction for homicide. Of these 47 offences, the second conviction was for murder in 39 cases (Appendix Table 2.17 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

International homicide comparisons

A number of international organisations, including Eurostat, have attempted to collate international homicide statistics. There are issues surrounding the comparability of international homicide data including:

• different definitions of homicide between countries, although definitions vary less than for some other types of crimes; • differing points in criminal justice systems at which homicides are recorded, for instance, when the offence is discovered or following further investigation or court outcome; • the figures are for completed homicides (i.e. excluding attempted murder) but, in some countries, the police register any death that cannot immediately be attributed to other causes as homicide.

Caution should therefore be taken in comparing homicide rates across countries.

Eurostat’s most recently published figures compare homicide rates averaged over the years 2010 to 20121. The rates for the member countries of the European Union and some other European countries are shown in Table 2.6, per million population. The Eurostat published rate for England and Wales is 10.9, which is below that for Scotland (16.5) and Northern Ireland (13.2) and in the mid-rank of the EU countries shown.

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Table 2.3: Homicide rate per million population for selected European countries (ranked in order high to low), averaged data for 2010 to 2012

Country2 Rate Country2 Rate

Kosovo 89.7 Hungary 13.0 Lithuania 68.5 Malta 12.8 Estonia 56.9 Ireland 11.9 Latvia 46.7 Portugal 11.4 Liechtenstein 36.5 Norway 11.2 Turkey 32.1 Poland 10.9 Montenegro 27.9 UK: England & 10.9 Wales3 Finland 19.6 Denmark 10.7 Bulgaria 18.9 Italy 9.6 Romania 18.5 Luxembourg 9.5 Belgium 17.3 France 9.4 UK: Scotland 16.5 Czech Republic 8.9 Serbia 16.5 Netherlands 8.6 Slovakia 16.0 Sweden 8.4 Greece 15.8 Austria 8.3 FYR of Macedonia 15.5 Spain 8.2 Bosnia & 14.2 Germany 7.9 Herzegovina Croatia 14.0 Slovenia 6.5 Cyprus 13.2 Iceland 6.3 UK: Northern 13.2 Switzerland 6.0 Ireland

Table notes: 1. Source: Eurostat 2. Excludes Albania as rate not available. 3. Eurostat calculated this figure using the recorded crime returns, not the Homicide Index. If the Homicide Index was used, the figure would be slightly lower.

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Office for National Statistics | 25 12 February 2015

The figures above are based on a 3 year average for 2010 to 2012. The Scottish Government publish annual homicide figures2, and the most recently published report shows that there were 61 victims of homicide (11 homicides per million population) in Scotland in 2013/14, a fall from 63 victims (12 per million) in the previous year. This was the lowest in the ten year period covered by the Scottish statistical bulletin.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland publish monthly figures on homicides, and the release for the year ending March 2014 shows that there were 21 homicide offences recorded by the police in Northern Ireland (11 homicides per million population).

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) publish a global study on homicide which gives a comprehensive overview of intentional homicide across the world. The most recent of these was published in 2014, and showed that the global average homicide rate stands at 62 per million population, but Southern Africa and Central America have rates over four times higher than that (above 240 victims per million population). Meanwhile, with rates some five times lower than the global average, Eastern Asia, Southern Europe and Western Europe are the sub-regions with the lowest homicide levels.

Notes

1. Eurostat’s ‘Crime Statistics’

2. Homicide in Scotland.

References

Eurostat, 2014 ‘Crime Statistics’

Ministry of Justice, 2014, ‘Criminal Justice Statistics 2013’

Office for National Statistics, 2013, ‘Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2011/12’

Office for National Statistics, 2014a, ‘Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13’

Office for National Statistics, 2014b, ‘Crime Statistics, period ending March 2014’

Police Service of Northern Ireland, 2014, Police Recorded Crime in Northern Ireland

The National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness, 2014, ‘ANNUAL REPORT: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales’

The Scottish Government, 2014, ‘Homicide in Scotland’

UK Statistics Authority, 2014, ‘Assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics: Statistics on Crime in England and Wales’

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UNODC, 2014, Global Homicide Book

Background notes

1. If you have any queries regarding crime statistics for England and Wales please email [email protected].

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs; • are well explained and readily accessible; • are produced according to sound methods; and • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

This document is also available on our website at www.ons.gov.uk.

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Chapter 3: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences - Weapons

Coverage: England and Wales Date: 12 February 2015 Geographical Area: Local Authority and County Theme: Crime and Justice

Correction

20 February 2015 at 4:00pm

After identifying an error in published tables a minor revision has been made to this release. The error relates to numbers and rates of firearm offences for the following police force areas: Kent, Humberside, West Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, and Devon and Cornwall.

Summary

This chapter presents analyses of offences involving weapons recorded by the police in 2013/14, specifically of firearms and knives or other sharp instruments. The firearms data collection covers any notifiable offence involving firearms while coverage of the knives or sharp instruments data is limited to seven of the most serious violent and sexual offences.

• In 2013/14, there were 7,709 offences in which firearms were involved, a 5% decrease compared with 2012/13. Offences involving knives or sharp instruments also fell by 2% between 2012/13 and 2013/14 (to 25,972). • Firearms continue to be involved in a small proportion of total police recorded crime (0.2%), while the proportion of selected violent and sexual offences involving a knife or sharp instrument was 6% in 2013/14, showing little change since 2010/11. • There were 29 fatalities resulting from offences involving firearms in 2013/14; 1 fewer than the previous year and the lowest figure since 1980 (when there were 24 fatalities). • People aged between 15 and 34 made up a disproportionate number of those of seriously or fatally injured from offences involving firearms (77% of the total, while constituting just 26% of the population as a whole).

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• Of the 25,972 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, 11,928 (46%) were used in a robbery and 11,910 (46%) as part of assault with injury or assault with intent to cause serious harm offences. • There were 200 homicides involving a knife or sharp instrument in 2013/14, 5 more than the previous year (195).

Offences involving the use of firearms: Introduction

Information is available from the police on whether a firearm is used during any recorded notifiable offence1. If a firearm had been used, the Home Office receive additional data about the circumstances of that offence2.

‘Offences involving firearms’ encompass any notifiable offence recorded by the police where a firearm has been fired, used as a blunt instrument or been used as a threat. Firearm possession offences, where the firearm has not been used in the course of another offence, are not included in this analysis3.

The different types of firearms included in this section mirror those covered by the Firearms Act 1968 and the associated amendments to the Act. These are:

• Firearms that use a controlled explosion to fire a projectile. This category includes handguns, shotguns and rifles. These types of weapon are often used in more serious offences, and tend to account for most of the fatalities and more serious injuries that arise. • Imitation firearms. This category includes replica weapons, as well as low-powered weapons which fire small plastic pellets, such as BB guns and soft air weapons. While injuries can occur from offences involving these weapons, they are less common and tend to be less serious. • Air weapons. The majority of offences which involve air weapons relate to criminal damage. While air weapons can cause serious injury (and sometimes fatalities), by their nature they are less likely to do so than firearms that use a controlled explosion.

Firearms that use a controlled explosion and imitation firearms are combined for the purposes of some analyses in this section, creating two broad categories: non-air weapons and air weapons.

Although information is collected on the type of weapon used in an offence, it is not always possible to identify the firearm. For example, some imitation weapons are so realistic that they are indistinguishable from a real firearm. The police will record which type of weapon has been used in an offence given the evidence available. The categorisation of the weapon may also depend on descriptions given by victims or witnesses. If the police do not have sufficient information about the type of firearm used in the offence (for example, if the weapon was not recovered), or if the firearm was concealed during the offence, then the police will record the weapon as an “unidentified firearm”.

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Notes

1. Notifiable offences cover those that could possibly be tried by a jury (these include some less serious offences, such as minor theft that would not usually be dealt with in this way) plus a few additional closely related offences, such as assault without injury.

2. The overall firearm offence figures reported here differ from those in the Crime in England and Wales quarterly releases for two reasons; firstly because these data contain air weapon offences, whereas the quarterly releases exclude these offences, and secondly because data in the quarterly releases are provisional.

3. Such offences are published quarterly in Appendix table A4 (417.5 Kb Excel sheet) in the Crime in England and Wales release for possession.

Prevalence and trends in firearms

Offences involving firearms make up a small proportion of overall recorded crime. In 2013/14, they were used in approximately 0.2% of all police recorded offences (Appendix table 3.01 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). More detail on the use of firearms as a proportion of selected offence types is included later in this chapter.

In 2013/14, the police recorded 7,709 offences involving a firearm, a fall of 5% compared with the previous year (8,135 offences). There were falls in both air weapon (4%) and non-air-weapon (6%) offences (Figure 3.1; Appendix Table 3.02 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). The fall in firearm offences was greater than that seen for overall police recorded crime, which fell by less than 1% over the same period. However, the fall in firearm offences was not as great as seen in recent years, with annual falls in the previous three years (2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13) being 13%, 16% and 15% respectively (Figure 3.2).

Office for National Statistics | 3 12 February 2015

Figure 3.1: Offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used, 2012/13 and 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

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The smaller percentage fall in offences involving firearms this year compared with falls in the previous three years is likely in part to be due to improvements in the police recording of crime. This follows the inspections of forces by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) inquiry into crime statistics, and the UK Statistics Authority’s decision to remove the National Statistics designation from recorded crime. This renewed focus is likely to have led to improved compliance with the NCRS, contributing to the increase in overall police recorded violence. However, offences involving firearms are likely to have been less affected by these changes in recording practices than overall police recorded crime. For more information on these recording changes see the Overview chapter.

This effect of these recording changes is particularly apparent in violence against the person offences. The overall level of violence against the person recorded by the police in the year ending March 2014 showed a 6% increase compared with the previous year. In contrast, violence against the person offences involving firearms has continued to fall, by 9% over the same time period (Appendix Table 3.08 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). However, this fall in violence against the person offences was less than the 18% fall seen in the previous year.

Office for National Statistics | 4 12 February 2015

The number of offences involving firearms has been falling year-on-year since its peak in 2003/04 (when 24,094 offences were recorded) and the latest figure of 7,709 offences represents a fall of more than two-thirds (68%) since then (Figure 3.2).

• The number of offences involving air weapons has fallen by 10,955 offences (79%) since 2002/03, when the NCRS was introduced. However, the 4% fall between 2012/13 and 2013/14 was the lowest annual decline for nine years. • Non-air weapon offences have fallen by more than half since 2002/03 (a decrease of 5,406 offences). Non-air weapon offences peaked later (at 11,088 offences in 2005/06) than those involving air weapons. The latest 6% decrease in non-air weapons follows three years of annual falls in the range of 13% to 14%.

Figure 3.2: Offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used, 2002/03 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. The Violent Crime Reduction Act, introduced in October 2007, made it illegal to import firearms and tightened the rules for the manufacture and sale of certain types of weapons.

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The type of weapon used in offences involving firearms has changed over the last decade. In 2003/04, non-air weapons constituted 43% of offences involving firearms while 57% were air weapons. By 2009/10, the proportion of offences involving non-air weapons increased to 62%, with

Office for National Statistics | 5 12 February 2015

a corresponding fall in air weapons to 38%. Since 2009/10, the proportions have remained similar. This reflects the relatively steeper fall in air weapon offences over this time period compared with non-air weapons (Appendix Table 3.03 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

Individual weapon types: Non air-weapons

Figure 3.3 presents the proportion of different weapon types used in firearm offences in 2013/14 and Figure 3.4 shows: trends in individual categories of non-air weapons since 2002/03. The charts show:

• In 2013/14, handguns were used in 28% (2,130) of offences involving firearms, making them the most commonly used firearm after air weapons. Imitation weapons were used in 15% (1,139) of offences involving firearms, while in 9% (690) of offences the type of firearm used was unidentified. • Over the longer term, there have been steep falls in all of these weapon types. Offences involving handguns have fallen from a peak of 5,549 in 2002/03 to 2,130 in 2013/14, a fall of 62%. The number of imitation weapon offences peaked later, at 3,373 in 2004/05, but have since fallen by two-thirds (66%) to 1,139 in 2013/14, with most of the fall occurring by 2008/09. The number of offences involving unidentified firearms also peaked in 2004/05 (1,500 offences) and have fallen by more than half (54%) since then, to 698 in 2013/14. • In 2013/14, shotguns were used in 5% (385) of offences involving firearms recorded by police. The trend in shotgun offences differs to that for other non-air weapons, with falls not seen until recent years. Between 2004/05 and 2010/11, there were around 600 shotgun offences per year. Since 2010/11, there has been a 37% fall in these offences, to the 383 recorded in 2013/14.

Figure 3.3: Offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used, by type of principal weapon, 2013/14

Office for National Statistics | 6 12 February 2015

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

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Figure 3.4: Offences recorded by the police in which non-air weapons were reported to have been used, by type of principal weapon, 2002/03 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. The Violent Crime Reduction Act introduced in October 2007 made it illegal to import or sell imitation firearms and tightened the rules for the manufacture and sale of certain types of air weapon. 4. Imitation firearms include weapons such as BB guns and soft air weapons, which can fire small plastic pellets at low velocity.

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In contrast to the national picture, the proportion of offences involving handguns is higher in some of the major metropolitan areas. For example, handguns were used in over 50% of offences involving a firearm recorded by the Metropolitan, Merseyside and West Midlands police force areas while air weapons were used in a small minority of offences (less than 10% in each force, data not shown).

Office for National Statistics | 7 12 February 2015

How firearms were used

The data collection on offences involving firearms includes information on how the weapon was used; either being fired, used as a threat or as a blunt instrument. In 2013/14, of the 7,709 offences recorded by the police, the firearm was (Appendix Table 3.03 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)):

• Fired in 56% of cases (4,297 offences). • Used as a threat in 41% of cases (3,182 offences). • Used as a blunt instrument in 3% of cases (230 offences).

The likelihood of a weapon being fired varied considerably by weapon type (Figure 3.5; Appendix Table 3.03 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)):

• Air weapons were fired in 90% of the 2,867 offences in which they were involved (2,588 offences) and were therefore the most likely weapon to be fired of the main firearm categories. This may reflect that air weapon offences largely do not come to the attention of police unless the weapon is fired and that air weapons are less likely to be used in more serious offences compared with some other weapon types. • In contrast, handguns were fired in 9% of the 2,130 offences in which they were used (197 offences). In 83% of offences they were used a threat and in 8% as a blunt instrument. • Shotguns were used in 385 recorded offences and, of these, were fired and used to threaten in similar proportions (44% and 52% respectively). • Overall, in 3% of offences where a firearm was used it was used as a blunt instrument (230 offences).

Office for National Statistics | 8 12 February 2015

Figure 3.5: Offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used, by type of principal weapon and weapon usage, 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. Imitation firearms include weapons such as BB guns and soft air weapons, which can fire small plastic pellets at low velocity. 4. Rifles/others includes starting guns, supposed/type unknown, prohibited firearms (including CS gas) and other firearms.

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Between 2002/03 and 2008/09, there was a steady downward trend in the proportion of incidents in which a weapon was fired. In 2004/05, firearms were fired in 70% of offences in which they were involved; by 2008/09 the proportion had fallen to 56% (Appendix table 3.03 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). This change is largely due to the fall in offences involving air weapons, which have fallen by a greater percentage than offences involving non-air weapons. Air weapons have consistently been more likely to be fired in an offence in which they were involved (in around 80-90% of offences) compared with non-air weapons.

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Injuries sustained in offences involving firearms

In 2013/14, around one fifth (18%) of all recorded offences involving firearms resulted in injury, a similar proportion to each year since 2002/03 (Appendix table 3.05 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). The 1,426 offences involving firearms which resulted in an injury in 2013/14 represents a fall of 15% on the previous year, a greater fall than the 5% drop in all offences involving firearms.

Severity of injuries sustained

Injuries sustained as a result of offences involving firearms are graded as being “slight”, “serious” (that is, requiring a stay in hospital or involving fractures, concussion, severe general shock, penetration by a bullet or multiple shot wounds) or “fatal”. In line with the large falls in the number of offences involving firearms recorded by the police since 2002/03, there have been substantial decreases in all types of injury sustained resulting from these offences over this period.

• There were 29 fatalities resulting from firearms offences in 2013/14, this compares with 30 recorded in 2012/13 and is less than half the number recorded in 2002/03 (81). While data on firearm offences cannot be directly compared prior to the introduction of the NCRS, the 29 fatalities in the last year represents the lowest number since 1980, when 24 fatalities were recorded. As in previous years, fatal injuries continue to constitute less than 1% of the total number of firearm offences. • Serious and slight injuries have both fallen by approximately two-thirds between 2002/03 and 2013/14 (serious injuries from 572 to 207; slight injuries from 3,903 to 1,190). Serious injuries have remained at around 3% of total firearm offences and slight injuries have fluctuated between 14% and 21% since 2002/03.

Injuries to police officers

It is also possible to identify how many victims were on-duty or off-duty police officers. In general, the number of injuries sustained by police officers as a result of offences involving firearms has been falling since 2007/08 (with the exception of the increase between 2008/09 and 2009/10). Between 2002/03 and 2013/14, five police officers suffered fatal injuries as a result of offences involving firearms (Table 3.1).

Since 2004/05, 54% of offences where a police officer sustained a serious or slight injury were committed with CS gas or pepper spray. This reflects the fact that Police Officers in an operational role carry CS gas spray and in some offences this has been used against the officer.

Office for National Statistics | 10 12 February 2015

Table 3.1: Offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used, in which a police officer on duty was injured by a firearm (excluding air weapons), by type of injury, 2002/03 to 2013/14

England and Wales

Year Total Fatal injury Serious injury3 Slight injury Number of offences

2002/03 12 - 1 11 2003/04 14 1 3 10 2004/05 23 - 2 21 2005/06 23 1 6 16 2006/07 21 - 3 18 2007/08 24 1 3 20 2008/09 9 - 1 8 2009/10 17 - 1 16 2010/11 9 - 1 8 2011/12 8 - 1 7 2012/13 4 2 - 2 2013/14 5 - 1 4

Table notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. A serious injury is one which necessitated a stay in hospital or involves fractures, concussion, severe general shock, penetration by a bullet or multiple shot wounds.

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Injuries by severity and weapon used

The seriousness of injuries sustained from offences involving firearms vary according to the type of weapon used. This is to be expected given the range of mechanisms and projectiles (e.g. air propulsion/controlled explosion; bullet/pellet) associated with individual weapons and variations in the circumstances and offences in which they are used (Table 3.2, Appendix table 3.04 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

As expected, the use of non-air weapons was much more likely to result in injury than air weapons. Overall, around half of offences in which these weapons were fired resulted in an injury (2% were

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fatal, 8% were serious and 41% were slight). In contrast, air weapons were the least likely weapon to cause a fatal or serious injury; two fatalities resulted from the use of air weapons and around 2% of offences in which the weapon was fired resulted in serious injury (Table 3.2).

Table 3.2: Offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used, by type of firearm and injury sustained when weapon was fired, 2013/14[1,2]

England and Wales

Percentages3 Of those fired: Weapon Number of Fired Fatal injury Serious Slight No injury type offences injury4 injury

Shotguns 383 44 4 22 10 63 Handguns 2,133 9 9 26 12 53 Imitation 1,147 74 - 1 50 48 firearms5 Rifles/ 1,182 41 0 9 48 42 others6

Non-air 4,845 35 2 8 41 49 weapons

Air weapons 2,869 90 0 2 10 88

Total 7,714 56 1 4 23 72

Table notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. Percentages may not sum due to rounding. 4. A serious injury is one which necessitated a stay in hospital or involves fractures, concussion, severe general shock, penetration by a bullet or multiple shot wounds. 5. Imitation firearms include weapons such as BB guns and soft air weapons, which can fire small plastic pellets at low velocity. 6. Includes starting guns, supposed/type unknown, prohibited firearms (including CS gas) and other firearms.

Office for National Statistics | 12 12 February 2015

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Types of offences where firearms are used

The most common offence types in which firearms are used are violence against the person, robbery and criminal damage, together they consistently make up over 80% of firearm offences. Overall, the numbers of violence against the person, robbery and criminal damage offences involving firearms have decreased between 2002/03 and 2013/14 (Figure 3.6, Appendix table 3.08 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

• Violence against the person offences involving firearms have decreased by over two thirds (70%) between 2004/05 (when they peaked) and 2013/14 (from 6,139 to 1,850 offences). The continued decrease is in contrast to overall police recorded violence against the person which increased by 6% between 2012/13 and 2013/141. • The number of robberies involving a firearm remained steady between 2003/04 and 2007/08 at around 4,000 offences a year, before beginning to decline. Since 2009/10, the rate of decline has increased and between 2009/10 and 2013/14 there was a 46% fall in the number of robberies involving a firearm (from 3,663 offences to 1,971). Between 2012/13 and 2013/14 there was a 11% fall in robbery offences involving firearms, mirroring the 11% fall in overall police recorded robbery2. • Criminal damage offences involving firearms have shown the greatest fall over the last decade. Between 2002/03 and 2012/13 the number of recorded offences fell by 78%. However, in the last year there was a very small increase in the number of offences (13) recorded due to an increase in criminal damage offences involving air weapons. This is the first time the number of criminal damage offences has not decreased since the introduction of the NCRS and contrasts with the continued falls in overall criminal damage recorded by police over the same period3.

Office for National Statistics | 13 12 February 2015

Figure 3.6: Offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used by selected offence type, 2004/05 to 2013/14

Source: Police recorded crime - Home Office

Notes: 1. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 2. Data in chart shown since 2004/05 as air weapon offences for violence against the person prior to this date include public fear alarm or distress and possession of weapon offences.

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There has also been a change in the types of offences that have involved a firearm over the last decade. While there have been falls in firearm offences for all crime types, Figure 3.7 shows that there has been an increase in the proportion of offences which were robberies (from 16% to 26%) and a corresponding decrease in criminal damage offences (from 44% to 32%, Figure 3.7). Appendix Table 3.09 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet) shows the number of offences involving a firearm by offence type.

Office for National Statistics | 14 12 February 2015

Figure 3.7: Offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used by selected offence type, 2004/05 and 2013/14

Source: Police recorded crime - Home Office

Notes: 1. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 2. Numbers may not sum to 100 due to rounding.

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Robberies involving a firearm

According to police recorded crime figures for 2013/14, around 90% of all robberies were of personal property and the remaining 10% were of business property4. However, among robberies involving a firearm, 62% involved personal property and 38% business property in 2013/14. In 2013/14, only 2% of personal robberies involved the use of a firearm, compared with 12% of robbery of business property (data not shown).

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Information is available on where the robberies took place. In 2013/14, of the 1,971 recorded robbery offences involving a firearm, almost a third (30%; 581 offences) were committed on public highways, 29% were committed in shops and garages (580 offences) and 18% were committed in a residential location (346 offences, Figure 3.8, Appendix table 3.10 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

• Robberies involving a firearm on public highways and shops and garages have been broadly decreasing since 2002/03, from 3,452 offences in this year to 1,161 in 2013/14. • Robberies involving a firearm committed in residential premises and ‘other’ areas have fluctuated considerably since 2002/03. The 346 robberies committed on residential premises in 2013/14 is 24% (66 offences) higher than the number recorded in 2002/03 but is well below the 2010/11 peak of 693 offences. • In 2013/14 the police recorded 90 robberies of banks, building societies and Post Offices which involved a firearm, 25% less than the number recorded in 2012/13 (122 offences) and 80% less than the 2002/03 figure (464 offences).

In 2013/14, 64% of robberies involving firearms were committed with a handgun, 22% involved another type of firearm and in 14% of offences the firearm was unidentified (Appendix table 3.11 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

Figure 3.8: Number of robberies in which firearms were reported to have been used, by location of offence, 2002/03 to 2013/14

Source: Police recorded crime - Home Office

Office for National Statistics | 16 12 February 2015

Notes: 1. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

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Notes

1. See the Overview chapter for more detail on the increase in overall police recorded violence.

2. Crime Statistics, period ending March 2014, Office for National Statistics

3. Crime Statistics, period ending March 2014, Office for National Statistics

4. See Appendix table A4 (417.5 Kb Excel sheet) in the quarterly crime statistics release for numbers of robbery offences.

Geographical distribution of firearm offences

As in previous years, offences involving the use of non-air weapons (which tend to be used in more serious offences) are geographically concentrated. Around three in every five (57%) offences recorded in 2013/14 occurred in four police force areas: Metropolitan, West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, all of which cover large urban areas. In comparison, just over a quarter (27%) of the population of England and Wales reside in the areas covered by these four forces (Figure 3.9, Appendix table 3.12 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

In 2013/14, there were 9 firearm offences per 100,000 people in England and Wales. For the four urban forces mentioned above the rates were1:

• 19 offences per 100,000 in the Metropolitan police force area. • 19 per 100,000 in the West Midlands police force area. • 15 per 100,000 in the Merseyside police force. • 15 per 100,000 in the Greater Manchester police force area.

Office for National Statistics | 17 12 February 2015

Figure 3.9: Proportion of firearm offences, excluding air weapons, in four police force areas and the rest of England and Wales, compared with population profile of those forces, 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office, and Mid-2013 population estimates, Office for National Statistics. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

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Notes

1. Population estimates are based on number of people resident in each police force area while number of offences recorded may include those committed against non-residents, for example people who travel into the city to work. This could partly explain the differences in rates between those areas with large non-resident populations (e.g. cities) and those with lower non-resident populations.

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Firearm offences by victim characteristics

As in previous years, in 2013/14 there was variation in the risk of being a victim of an offence involving a non-air weapon by age1.

• Of the non-air weapon offences in which the age of the victim was known (87% of all instances), 53% of victims were aged between 15 and 34 even though they make up only 26% of the population of England and Wales. • People aged 60 years and over were less likely to become victims, accounting for 4% of victims of non-air weapon offences but comprising 23% of the population. • When the analysis is restricted to victims who were seriously or fatally injured (173 victims for whom age was known) the difference is even more pronounced: 15 to 34 year olds formed 77% of victims, while 3% of victims were aged 60 years or over (Figure 3.10).

Figure 3.10: Age profile of fatally and seriously injured firearm victims, excluding air weapons, compared to population profile for England and Wales, 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office, and Mid-2013 population estimates, Office for National Statistics. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

Office for National Statistics | 19 12 February 2015

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Of the 4,045 (84%) offences involving non-air weapons in which victim ethnicity was recorded2, 66% of victims were White (2,695 offences), 17% were Asian (698), 13% were Black (538) and 3% (124) were from other minority ethnic groups.

By way of comparison, 2012 population estimates (based on the 2011 Census) indicate that 86% of the population of England and Wales were White, 8% were Asian, 3% were Black and the remaining 3% were of other ethnicities. Black and Asian people are therefore over represented and White people under represented as victims of such offences. However, it should be noted that these results have not been age-standardised and there is a relationship between age and being a victim of offences involving firearms. In addition, the age profile of the population varies by ethnicity, for example the Black ethnic group has a younger age profile than White3.

Finally, there are also likely to be important socio-economic factors in offences involving firearms that cannot be examined using police recorded crime data. There is evidence from other studies that suggests that ethnicity is just one of many factors in violent incidents in general. Leyland and Dundas (2009), for example, investigated Scottish homicides between 1980 and 2005, and concluded that “contextual influences of the neighbourhood of residence might be more important than individual characteristics in determining the victims of assault”.

Notes

1. Age breakdowns are not available for all air weapons offences.

2. Ethnicity data are based on visual identification by the police.

3. 2011 Census results are published on the ONS website.

Offences involving knives or sharp instruments: Introduction

Seven of the more serious types of offence in the recorded crime data (homicide, threats to kill, assault with injury/assault with intent to cause serious harm, robbery, attempted murder, rape and sexual assault) can be broken down by whether or not a knife or sharp instrument was involved1. Statistics on offences recorded by the police involving a knife or sharp instrument are also published on a quarterly basis in the Crime in England and Wales release.

Unlike the data for firearms, the police do not provide detailed information at an offence level in this collection. For this reason it is not possible to analyse victim characteristics or the particular type of sharp instrument used.

Office for National Statistics | 20 12 February 2015

Notes

1. A sharp instrument is any object that pierces the skin (or in the case of a threat, is capable of piercing the skin), for example a broken bottle.

Prevalence and trends in knives and sharp instruments

In 2013/14, knives or other sharp instruments were involved in a total of 25,972 offences recorded by the police, a decrease of 2% compared with 2012/13 (26,553). By contrast there was a 3% rise in the overall number of these seven selected offences recorded by the police over the same period1. This 3% rise is in part likely to be due to changes in police recording. See the Overview chapter for further information. The decrease in knife offences was driven by a fall in robbery; all other offences increased over the same period (Appendix table 3.15 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).Over 90% of knife or sharp instrument offences were either robbery (11,928 offences) or assault with injury/assault with intent to cause serious harm offences (11,910 offences). Homicides involving a knife or sharp instrument made up around 1% of the total number of knife or sharp instrument offences (Figure 3.11).

Figure 3.11: Offences recorded by police in which a knife or sharp instrument was used, 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime and Homicide Index, Home Office. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. ‘Other offences’ includes: attempted murder, rape and sexual assault.

Office for National Statistics | 21 12 February 2015

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Before 2010/11, there were known inconsistencies in knife or sharp instrument recording practices between police forces. West Midlands police force included unbroken bottle and glass offences in their returns but have excluded these offences in line with other forces since 2010/11 (see Chapter 5 of the User Guide). As such, the data since 2010/11 are not comparable with those from earlier years. One force (Surrey) continues to record offences involving unbroken bottles and glass in its knife or sharp instrument returns; however the estimated number of such offences is small enough that it is not likely to impact on national trends. Thus, the years from 2010/11 onwards are broadly comparable, while in order to extend the time series further back it is necessary to exclude West Midlands.

In the four years from 2010/11, the number of recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument fell 21% from 32,890 to 25,972 (Figure 3.12). Most of this decrease occurred between 2011/12 and 2012/13. The total number of offences for the extended trend is shown in Figure 3.12, while more detail on individual offence trends is given in Appendix table 3.16 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet).

Figure 3.12: Number of police recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, including and excluding West Midlands PFA, 2008/09 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime and Homicide Index, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. Offences included in figures are those listed in figure 3.11.

Office for National Statistics | 22 12 February 2015

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Despite the large reduction over the four years for which there are complete police force area data, the proportion of police recorded crimes for the seven selected offences in which a knife or sharp instrument was used has fallen only slightly, from 7% in 2010/11 to 6% in 2013/14 (data not shown). This is because the equivalent offences that did not involve a knife or sharp instrument have also been falling, but at a slower rate.

Notes

1. Crime Statistics, period ending March 2014, Office for National Statistics

Geographical distribution of offences involving knives or sharp instruments

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) recorded 39% (10,062 offences) of all knife or sharp instrument offences in England and Wales in 2013/14. This figure is equivalent to 120 offences per 100,000 population, almost three times the rate of England and Wales as a whole and around double the rate of Greater Manchester and West Midlands (the forces with the next highest rates). In forces other than the MPS, those covering urban areas typically recorded more offences involving knives or sharp instruments and had higher offence rates per 100,000 population than those covering rural areas (Appendix table 3.17 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).1

Notes

Hospital admissions for assault with knives or sharp instruments

Further information on trends in offences involving knives or sharp instruments for England is available from the NHS Hospital Episodes Statistics1.

Between 2012/13 and 2013/14, hospital admissions for assault with sharp instruments fell by 5% (195 admissions) to 3,654. This follows a period of steady decline between 2006/07 and 2012/13 from 5,720 to 3,849; a fall of a third (33%) over this period (Appendix table 3.18 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

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As expected, the absolute number of recorded knife crime offences is considerably higher than hospital admissions for assault. However, between 2008/09 and 2013/14, trends in hospital admissions for assault with sharp instruments and police recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments have tracked each other very closely. Both are at their lowest level recorded in the last six years, having fallen sharply between 2011/12 and 2012/13 before a less steep fall in the last year (Figure 3.13).

Figure 3.13: Indexed admissions to NHS hospitals with injuries from assault with a sharp object and police recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, England, 2008/09 to 2013/14

Notes: 1. Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office, and Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre. 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. All Welsh police force areas and West Midlands are excluded.

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Notes

1. Hospital Episode Statistics records describe episodes (periods) of continuous in-patient care under the same consultant.

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References

Office for National Statistics, 2014, Crime Statistics, period ending March 2014

Public Administration Select Committee, 2014, ‘Caught red handed: Why we can’t count on police recorded crime statistics’

UK Statistics Authority, 2014, ‘Assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics: Statistics on Crime in England and Wales

Background notes

1. If you have any queries regarding crime statistics for England and Wales please email [email protected].

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs; • are well explained and readily accessible; • are produced according to sound methods; and • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

You may use or re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit

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www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected].

This document is also available on our website at www.ons.gov.uk.

Office for National Statistics | 26 12 February 2015

Chapter 5: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences - Alcohol-Related Violence

Coverage: England and Wales Date: 12 February 2015 Geographical Area: Local Authority and County Theme: Crime and Justice

Summary

This chapter presents findings from the 2012/13 and 2013/14 Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) on violent incidents where alcohol has been a factor. Additional analysis is also provided from the Home Office Data Hub, a record level dataset of police recorded offences.

• Victims perceived the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol in 53% of violent incidents measured by the 2013/14 CSEW. This is equivalent to an estimated 704,000 ‘alcohol-related’ violent incidents. While the volume of incidents has fallen, the proportion of violent incidents that were ‘alcohol-related’ has remained relatively steady over the last ten years. • Alcohol was a particularly prevalent factor in violent incidents between strangers, 64% of which were perceived to be alcohol-related (CSEW 2013/14). • In the combined datasets of the 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW, 70% of violent incidents occurring at the weekend, and 70% of violent incidents occurring in the evening or night, were alcohol- related. • The proportions of violent incidents that were alcohol-related increased as the afternoon and evening progressed, from 23% of violent incidents occurring between noon and 6pm, to 52% were between 6pm and 10pm and 83% occurred between 10pm and midnight. • 70% of violent incidents which took place in a public space were alcohol-related compared with 40% of incidents that occurred in the home and 43% of incidents that happened in and around the workplace. • Where injuries were sustained these were typically more severe in incidents of alcohol-related violence compared with other violent incidents. Victims in alcohol-related violent incidents were more likely to have received cuts (15%, compared with 9% of victims in non alcohol-related incidents) or to have suffered concussion or loss of consciousness (5%, compared with 1% of victims in non alcohol-related incidents) as a result of the incident.

Introduction

This chapter looks at the extent, nature of, and trends in, alcohol-related violent incidents experienced by adults aged 16 years and older resident in households in England and Wales. It

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presents data on the extent of alcohol-related violence from the 2013/14 Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) and also includes more detailed analysis of the nature of this type of violent incident based on combined data from the 2012/13 and 2013/14 surveys. Combining data from two survey years increases the number of incidents available for analysis of the more detailed breakdowns of the data.

Further information on the involvement of alcohol as a factor in violent incidents is provided from the Home Office Data Hub, a record level dataset of police recorded offences which contains more detailed information on crimes than the main police recorded crime data collection. As there is no specific offence of alcohol-related violence defined in law the aggregate police recorded crime data collection does not separately identify this type of crime. However, the Data Hub contains a field where police forces can identify a given set of aggravating factors related to an offence and one of these factors is whether the offence was ‘alcohol-related’. It is not mandatory for forces to populate this field and not all forces are presently supplying crime data to the Home Office via the Data Hub. Analysis using these data is therefore limited to 21 of the 43 territorial police forces of England and Wales, and is subject to continuing quality assurance. These forces account for over half (61%)1 of the violence against the person offences in England and Wales and include data from the Metropolitan Police, who alone record around a fifth of offences in England and Wales.

This analysis of the Data Hub was restricted to offences recorded in the category of violence against the person. There are some further offences recorded by the police as public order offences that can involve an element of violence, though not directed at an individual victim. Public order offences cover circumstances where an offender is behaving in a way that causes, or would be likely to cause, alarm, distress or disorder and may include some offences where injury is threatened. Similar analysis of the Data Hub shows that 21% of recorded public order offences were flagged as alcohol- related. These offences are excluded from the analysis presented in this chapter.

There have been long-running concerns about the relationship between alcohol and crime. Past studies2 show that high proportions of offenders have consumed alcohol before committing an offence, with proportions higher in violent offences compared with acquisitive offences. It is likely that the link between alcohol and violence is complex, as although large proportions of offenders report drinking prior to offending, and victims often perceive offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, most people who consume alcohol do not go on to commit crime. Many explanations for this link have been suggested, often focusing on the pharmacological effects of alcohol, the psychology of the individual offender, the situations alcohol is consumed in, and the social acceptability of certain behaviours when intoxicated (see for example, Dingwall, 2006. and Hughes et al., 2010, for an overview).

Defining alcohol-related violence

In this chapter, CSEW ‘alcohol-related’ violent incidents3 are defined as those violent incidents where the victim perceived the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. ‘Non alcohol-related violent incidents’ refer to those incidents where the victim perceived the offender(s) not to be under the influence of alcohol. The CSEW also collects information on the location of the incident, which can include locations in or around licensed premises, and on whether

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the victim was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. Statistics on both of these measures are also presented.

At present, there is no definition of alcohol-related violence within the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) or Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR), although there is guidance within the National Standard for Incident Recording (NSIR). This guidance states this flag should be used to: “capture the characteristics and motivating factors around an incident where the consumption and effects of alcohol are more than merely incidental... where the consumption of alcohol has affected someone’s behaviour and been a major contribution to the activities leading up to the incident”4.

However, this guidance is not directly linked to the NCRS or HOCR so it is possible that police forces have applied their own interpretation of what is meant by alcohol-related in their returns to the Home Office. Furthermore, as the aggravating factors field is not mandatory, it is possible that it is being used for some offences within a force, but not all. As a result, these data are only able to provide a partial and provisional picture but they do provide useful support to the CSEW findings.

Notes

1. Based upon Table P1 in Crime in England and Wales, Year ending March 2014.

2. See, for example, Boreham, et al., 2007 and Matthews and Richardson, 2005.

3. Incidents of violence include wounding, assault with minor injury, and assault without injury. For more information see Chapter 5.1 of the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales.

4. Page 30, NSIR, 2011.

Prevalence of alcohol-related violence

The 2013/14 CSEW estimates that there were 1.3 million incidents of violence against adults in England and Wales1. Victims perceived the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol in 53% of these, equivalent to an estimated 704,000 violent incidents. Victims perceived the offender(s) not to be under the influence of alcohol in 38% of incidents, and in the remaining 9% of incidents the victim did not know2 (Nature of Crime Table 3.10 (384 Kb Excel sheet)). As well as their perceptions of the offender(s), victims reported that they (the victim) were under the influence of alcohol in a fifth (20%) of violent incidents, and that 19% of violent incidents were located in or around a pub or club (Appendix Table 5.01 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet) and Figure 5.1):

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Figure 5.1: Proportion of violent incidents where alcohol was likely to be a factor, by question, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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Notes

1. Incidents of violence include wounding, assault with minor injury, and assault without injury. For more information see Chapter 5.1 of the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales.

Trends in CSEW alcohol-related violence

Consistent with trends in overall violent crime, there have been falls in the number of alcohol-related violent incidents. Between the 2004/05 and 2013/14 surveys, both overall CSEW violent incidents and those where the offender(s) was perceived to be under the influence of alcohol fell by 34%

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(overall CSEW violence from 2 million incidents to 1.3 million; alcohol-related incidents from 1.1 million to 0.7 million) (Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2: Number of overall violent incidents and those where the victim believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, 2004/05 to 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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The proportion of violent incidents where the victim perceived the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol has remained relatively steady over the last ten years (the time period over which comparable data are available). For example, the proportion of offender(s) perceived to be under the influence of alcohol was 53% in both the 2004/05 and 2013/14 CSEW (Figure 5.3). Data from earlier survey years (not comparable with 2004/05 to 2013/14) suggest that this trend has also remained steady in the longer term under the wider categorisation of violent incidents1.

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Figure 5.3: Proportion of violent incidents where the victim believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, 2004/05 to 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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The Home Office Data Hub provides information on the proportion of police recorded offences that were identified as being alcohol related. This collection remains under development and data for 21 forces in 2013/14 shows that 22% of violence against the person offences were flagged as alcohol- related, a lower proportion than shown in the CSEW. There are a number of possible reasons for the difference in the proportions from the two sources:

• The CSEW estimate is based on the victims’ perception whether the offender was under the influence of alcohol; the police are likely to take a more evidence-based approach to whether an offence was alcohol related. • The alcohol flag is not part of the mandatory return that police forces send to the Home Office, therefore the flag might not be being applied consistently across all forces and offences types. • The mix of crimes between the CSEW and police recorded violence differ. For example, around 10% of police recorded violence against the person is harassment offences, which are not well covered by the CSEW. Harassment offences are less likely to be alcohol-related than other violent offences (Figure 5.6). Conversely, lower-level violence (including, for example, scuffles in or outside pubs) is likely to be better covered by the CSEW than police recorded crime, as much of this violence will not come to the attention of the police and therefore will not be recorded as crimes.

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Notes

1. Data from 1995-2012/13 is available from Crime Statistics, Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13 (Nature of Crime table 3.11). Violent incidents in these data include assault with injury, assault without injury, and robbery.

Type of violence

In the 2013/14 CSEW, the victim perceived the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol in 53% of wounding, 57% of assault with minor injury and 51% of violence without injury incidents (Nature of Crime Table 3.10 (384 Kb Excel sheet)).

There were differences in the proportion of incidents that were alcohol-related according to the relationship between offender and victim. Alcohol was a particularly prevalent factor in violent incidents between strangers, 64% of which were alcohol-related, compared with 52% of acquaintance and 36% of domestic violence incidents (Figure 5.4)1:

Figure 5.4: Proportion of violent incidents where the victim believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, offence and violence type, 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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The Home Office Data Hub provides information on the proportion of police recorded offences that were alcohol related by type of offence. Data for 2013/14 shows the offence of assault without injury on a constable had the highest proportion of offences that were alcohol-related (43% of offences). The proportion of other offences which were alcohol-related is shown in Figure 5.5. It is important to note that assault without injury on a constable only account for 2% of police recorded violence against the person in 2013/14 and these figures refer to proportions of offences, rather than actual level of offences.

Figure 5.5: Proportion of violence against the person offences recorded by the police which were ‘alcohol-related’, by offence type, 21 forces, 2013/14, Home Office Data Hub

Notes: 1. Source: Home Office, Police Recorded Crime 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

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Office for National Statistics | 8 12 February 2015

Notes

1. The domestic violence figures presented here are taken from the main face-to-face survey. It is known that this crime type is particularly liable to under-reporting in face-to-face interviews. Information on partner abuse from the self-completion module in the CSEW also indicates that the offender was under the influence in a lower proportion of partner abuse incidents than in stranger violence (Crime Statistics, Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13, Appendix Table 4.15).

Nature of alcohol-related violence

This section provides a more detailed examination of alcohol-related violent incidents from the CSEW, and includes further police recorded crime data from the Home Office Data Hub on the timing of offences identified as alcohol-related. Data from two CSEW survey years (2012/13 and 2013/141) have been combined to give larger sample sizes, increasing the number of incidents available for analysis, allowing more detailed breakdowns of the data. Figures reported in this section are 12-month averages of the estimates from the two survey years and so are comparable with 12-month CSEW estimates presented elsewhere in this and other crime statistics bulletins.

Timing

As expected CSEW data confirm that violent incidents were more often alcohol-related in the evening or night compared with the daytime, and during the weekend compared with weekdays (Appendix Table 5.02 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). The victim perceived the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol in 70% of all violent incidents that occurred at the weekend (from Friday 6pm to Monday 6am) (compared with 35% of incidents occurring during the week), and 70% of all violent incidents occurring in the evening or night (from 6pm to 6am) (compared with 20% occurring in the day). The proportions of violent incidents that were alcohol-related increased as the afternoon and evening progressed, from 23% of violent incidents occurring between noon and 6pm, to 52% of violent incidents occurring between 6pm and 10pm and 83% of violent incidents occurring between 10pm and midnight. A similarly large proportion (84%) of incidents occurring between midnight and 6am were alcohol-related (Figure 5.6):

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Figure 5.6: Timing of violent incidents, according to whether victim perceived offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, combined data for 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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Information from Home Office Data Hub enables more detailed analysis of the timing of an offence recorded by the police, as each record includes a time stamp. These data show a similar picture to findings from the CSEW, with more alcohol-related offences taking place in the evening than during the day, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings. Figure 5.7 shows the proportion of offences taking place by day of the week and hour of the day in 2013/14. For this analysis, data from a number of forces were excluded from the 21 where an ‘alcohol-related’ flag was available as they did not include accurate time-stamped data. However, the Metropolitan police, the largest force in terms of population and number of crimes recorded, are included.

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Figure 5.7: Number of offences recorded by the police that were identified as ‘alcohol- related’, by day and time of offence, 13 police forces in England and Wales, 2013/14, Home Office Data Hub.

Notes: 1. Source: Home Office, Police Recorded Crime 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.

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Location

As detailed in the prevalence section of this report, 19% of all 2013/14 CSEW violent incidents occurred in or around a pub or club (Nature of Crime Table 3.2 (384 Kb Excel sheet)). In the combined 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW datasets, 93% of violent incidents occurring in or around a pub or club location were alcohol-related, as were 51% of incidents occurring in the street. These data show that the majority (70%) of ‘public space’2 violent incidents were alcohol-related (Appendix Table 5.03 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). The proportions of incidents occurring in locations in and around work, around the home and in other locations that were alcohol-related are shown in Figure 5.8.

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Figure 5.8: Location of violent incidents, according to whether victim perceived offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, combined data for 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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The locations in which violent incidents occur often reflect the nature of the incidents themselves, particularly the relationship between victim and offender. Violence between strangers, where 64% of violent incidents in the 2013/14 CSEW were alcohol-related, are more likely to occur in public spaces where strangers are most likely to meet. In contrast, domestic violence3, where a smaller proportion of incidents were alcohol-related (36% in the 2013/14 CSEW), will predominantly occur around the home (see Nature of Crime Table 3.10 (384 Kb Excel sheet)).

The alcohol-related violent incidents that occurred in or around a ‘pub or club’ can be broken down further. Just over half of these incidents occurred within a licensed premise (30% ‘inside a nightclub’, 25% inside a ‘pub, bar or working men’s club’), while the remaining incidents occurred in locations outside but near the premises (Figure 5.9).

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Figure 5.9: Specific location of violent incidents occurring in or around a ‘pub or club’, where victim perceived offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, combined data for 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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Characteristics of victims

The proportion of adult victims who perceived the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of a violent incident varied by personal and household characteristics. Many of these characteristics are closely associated, so caution is needed in their interpretation when viewed in isolation. Separate analysis on the characteristics associated with being a victim of any violent crime is available in the overview chapter of this publication.

Violent incidents were more often alcohol-related in incidents involving male victims, where 62% of incidents were alcohol related, than those involving female victims, where 38% of incidents were alcohol-related. While it is not possible to infer a causal relationship between alcohol consumption, leisure and lifestyle choices, and being a victim of alcohol-related violence, those who drank alcohol or visited pubs and bars regularly were more likely to be victims. For example, violent incidents were alcohol-related in 62% of incidents involving victims who estimated that they drank alcohol three-four days a week or more in the previous year4; 64% of incidents where the victim made evening visits to a pub or wine bar once a week or more in the last month; and 76% of incidents involving victims who

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visited a nightclub four times or more in the last month (Appendix table 5.04 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet) and Figure 5.10).

Figure 5.10: Proportion of violent incidents where victim perceived offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, by victim characteristics, combined data for 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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Characteristics of offenders

The CSEW is a victim-based survey, and as such information on the characteristics of offender(s) is limited to the perceptions of the victim. However, the data available suggests that offenders in alcohol-related violent incidents share a similar age and gender profile to victims in these incidents. In the combined 2012/13 and 2013/14 surveys, the offender(s) were male in 80% of alcohol-related violent incidents, female in 12%, and from a mixed gender group of offenders in 8% of incidents. Offender(s) were aged between 16 and 24 in 51%, 25 and 39 in 42%, and 40 or older in 15% of alcohol-related violent incidents5.

A third (33%) of alcohol-related violent incidents involved more than one offender, a larger proportion than that for non alcohol-related violent incidents (19%). Offenders in alcohol-related violent incidents were also less likely to be known well by the victim (30% of incidents) than offenders in non alcohol-related violent incidents (56% of incidents), supporting findings earlier in this chapter on the relationship between victims and offenders (Appendix Table 5.05 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet) and Figure 5.11):

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Figure 5.11: Offender characteristics in violent incidents, according to whether victim perceived offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, combined data for 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW

Notes: 1. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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Use of weapons

Weapons were used in similar proportions of violent incidents that were alcohol-related (17%) and non alcohol-related (20%) according to the combined 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW data, though there were some differences in the types of weapons used. This was particularly the case for the use of bottles and glassware, which were used more often in alcohol-related incidents (5%), than in non-alcohol-related incidents (1%). This is likely to be due to the proximity of these objects as potential weapons in environments where alcohol is consumed (Appendix Table 5.06 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

Consequences of violence

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The proportion of victims in violent incidents who either sustained physical injury or received medical attention were similar regardless of whether the incident was alcohol-related, however, victims in alcohol-related incidents tended to experience more severe injuries. For example, victims in alcohol- related violent incidents were more likely to have received cuts (15%, compared with 9% of victims in non alcohol-related incidents) or to have suffered concussion or loss of consciousness (5%, compared with 1% of victims in non alcohol-related incidents) (Appendix Table 5.07 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)). Similar proportions of alcohol-related (47%) and non-alcohol-related (45%) violent incidents came to the attention of the police (Appendix Table 5.08 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

Perceived seriousness and emotional reactions

The CSEW asks victims how serious, on a scale of 1 to 20; they perceived the incident (with ‘1’ being a very minor crime, to ‘20’ being the most serious crime). The mean score given for alcohol- related violent incidents was 6.7, significantly lower than non alcohol-related violent incidents, where the mean score was 7.3 (Appendix Table 5.09 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet)).

The emotional reactions experienced by victims also differed. Whilst large proportions of victims in both alcohol-related (78%) and non-alcohol-related (81%) violent incidents reported having experienced an emotional reaction, the severity of the reactions differed. Victims in alcohol-related violent incidents were less likely to have been emotionally affected ‘very much’ overall (in 19% of alcohol-related violent incidents) than victims in non-alcohol-related violent incidents (29%; Figure 5.12).

Figure 5.12: Emotional impact of violent incidents, according to whether victim perceived offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, combined data for 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW

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Notes: 1. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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There were also differences in the types of emotional reactions experienced. Victims in alcohol- related violent incidents were less likely to have experienced emotions including shock and fear, as well anxiety or panic attacks, difficulty sleeping and depression (Appendix Table 5.10 (1.42 Mb Excel sheet) and Table 5.1 below):

Table 5.1: Type of emotional impact in violent incidents, according to whether victim perceived offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol, combined data for 2012/13 and 2013/14 CSEW

England and Wales Personal incidents, percentages

Alcohol-related1 Not alcohol-related Statistically significant difference

Violent incidents3 Type of emotional response experienced4 Anger 41 43 Annoyance 40 35 Shock 36 46 * Fear 23 31 * Loss of confidence or 19 32 * feeling vulnerable Crying/tears 17 27 * Anxiety or panic attacks 14 19 * Difficulty sleeping 14 20 * Depression 9 18 * Other 3 3

Unweighted base 697 557

Table notes: 1. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

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2. This question is asked to victims able to say something about the offender(s). Victims were able to say something about the offender(s) in 99% of all violent incidents. Question is not asked where the offender(s) were perceived to be children aged less than 10 years. 3. Violent incidents comprise wounding, assault with minor injury and assault without injury. See Section 5.1 of the User Guide for more information. 4. Figures add to more than 100 as more than one response was possible.

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Notes

1. Incident counts are based on the full CSEW recall period from 12 months prior to the month of interview. The results therefore are from interviews conducted between April 2012 and March 2014, and refer to incidents between March 2011 and February 2014.

2. Includes incidents located in or around a pub or club, in the street, or on or around public transport.

3. The domestic violence figures presented here are taken from the main face-to-face survey. It is known that this crime type is particularly liable to under-reporting in face-to-face interviews. Detailed information on domestic abuse from a self-completion module in the CSEW can be found in chapter 4.

4. This question is asked of victims aged between 16-59 years.

5. The totals for each age group do not add to 100% as there may be more than one offender.

References

Boreham, R., Cronberg, A., Dollin,L. and Pudney, S.(2007) The Arrestee Survey 2003 – 2006 London: Home Office.

Budd, T. (2003) Alcohol-related assault: findings from the British Crime Survey, Online Report 35/03, Home Office

Dingwall, G. (2006) Alcohol and Crime Devon: Willan Publishing

Hughes, K., Quigg, Z., Eckley, L., Bellis, M., Jones, L., Calafat, A., Kosir, M., and van Hasselt, N. (2010): ‘Environmental factors in drinking venues and alcohol-related harm: the evidence base for European Intervention’ Addiction, vol. 106 (1), pp. 37–46

Matthews, S. and Richardson, A. (2005), Findings from the 2003 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey: alcohol related crime and disorder London: Home Office

Office for National Statistics, (2014a) ‘Crime Statistics, period ending March 2014’

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Office for National Statistics, (2014b) ‘Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13’

Background notes

1. If you have any queries regarding crime statistics for England and Wales please email [email protected].

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs; • are well explained and readily accessible; • are produced according to sound methods; and • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

This document is also available on our website at www.ons.gov.uk.

Office for National Statistics | 20 12 February 2015

Data Sources and References

Coverage: England and Wales Date: 12 February 2015 Geographical Area: Local Authority and County Theme: Crime and Justice

Data Sources

For detailed information about the statistical sources used here, refer to the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales (ONS, 20151).

Notes for this section:

1. This User Guide is the standard source of information on both police recorded crime figures and the CSEW.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales

Data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) continue to be badged as National Statistics.

The CSEW is a face-to-face survey in which people resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of crime in the 12 months prior to the interview. The overall target sample size for the survey in the year ending March 2014 was 35,000 households

In the year ending March 2014, the CSEW had achieved a nationally representative sample of 34,906 adults and 2,902 children with response rates of 75% and 68% respectively. The survey is weighted to adjust for possible non-response bias and to ensure the sample reflects the profile of the general population. Being based on a sample survey, CSEW estimates are subject to a margin of error. Unless stated otherwise, all changes in CSEW estimates described in the main text are statistically significant at the 95 per cent level. For more information on statistical significance and confidence intervals for CSEW data, see Section 8 of the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales (ONS, 2015).

There have been some minor changes to the classifications of CSEW offences, in order to improve coherence of categories and to more closely align them with the presentation of police crime recorded offences. A programme of work to implement these has now been completed and bulletins referring to the year ending 2014 onwards include these revised CSEW classifications (including a full reclassified back series to 2001/02).

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These new CSEW classifications do not change the overall number of offences estimated by the survey, just the categories in which they are presented. As part of these the offence category of robbery has been moved out of CSEW ‘Violence’ into a separate standalone category. Further detail on the changes made to the presentation of CSEW statistics can be found in the methodological note ‘Presentational and methodological improvements to National Statistics on the Crime Survey for England and Wales’.

Alongside these classification changes, an additional piece of survey development work was also implemented to produce revised survey weights and a back-series following the release of the 2011 Census-based population estimates. The programme of work to produce the revised weights and key estimates for all survey years back to 2001/02 is now complete and both CSEW and police recorded crime use post 2011 Census population figures. See the methodological note ‘Presentational and methodological improvements to National Statistics on the Crime Survey for England and Wales’ for more information.

Police recorded crime

Police recorded crime provides sub-national crime statistics, it covers people (for example residents of institutions and tourists) and sectors (for example commercial crime) excluded from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) sample, and has a wider coverage of offences - for example homicide, and ‘crimes against the state’ (for example, drug offences). Police recorded crime also covers some types of serious but relatively less common offences that the CSEW cannot reliably measure. This includes homicide, firearms, and use of knives and sharp instruments for selected violent offences. It should be noted that recorded crime can be influenced by changes in recording practices or police activity.

During 2014, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) carried out a national inspection of crime data integrity. Audits of crime and incident data were carried out between December 2013 and August 2014, looking at crimes recorded between November 2012 and October 2013 across all 43 police forces in England and Wales.

The final report on findings from the HMIC inspections, ‘Crime-recording: making the victim count’, was published on 18th November 2014 and separate crime inspection force reports for each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales were published on 27th November 2014. HMIC concluded that, across England and Wales as a whole an estimated one in five offences (19%) that should have been recorded as crimes were not. The greatest levels of under-recording were seen for violence against the person offences (33%) and sexual offences (26%), however there was considerable variation in the level of under-recording across the different offence types investigated (for example, burglary; 11%).

The report outlines several recommendations to strengthen recording practices in forces. More detail can be found in the User Guide.

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Following a consultation with users2, undertaken by ONS in 2012, relating to the presentation of crime statistics, ONS re-designed the classifications used to present police recorded crime statistics to provide a more coherent and consistent set of offence categories and a clearer picture for users. Implemented from July 2013 and incorporated into last year’s ‘Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences’ publication, these changes have not affected the coverage of offences in the police recorded crime series, and have been restricted to movement of offences across categories.

As part of the re-classification work, homicide is now presented as a separate sub-category of violence against the person. The re-classification work has also involved moving selected offences into different groups to better reflect the nature of the offences. For example, some offences relating to the possession of weapons and the offence of ‘Public fear, alarm or distress’, where there is no identifiable victim, were moved from ‘Violence against the person without injury’ to new, more appropriate sub-categories within ‘Other crimes against society’ namely ‘Possession of weapons offences’ and ‘Public order offences’. A more in-depth explanation of police recorded re- classifications can be found in the methodological note ‘Presentational changes to National Statistics on police recorded crime in England and Wales’.

Notes

1. The full assessment report on Crime Statistics in England and Wales can be found on the UK Statistics Authority website.

2. For more details see the ‘Future dissemination strategy for the publication of National Statistics on Crime in England and Wales’.

Homicide Index

The Home Office Homicide Index is a database which contains detailed record-level information including victim and suspect details and the circumstances of the offence, for each homicide recorded by police in England and Wales. It is continually updated with revised information from the police and the courts and, as such, is a richer source of data than the main recorded crime dataset. Data presented in this release therefore differ slightly from the homicide figures presented in the Crime in England and Wales quarterly releases.

While the Homicide Index is covered by the de-designation of all data based on police recorded crime, Home Office and ONS statisticians do not have significant concerns about the accuracy of recording of homicides. However, ONS accepts that there is currently insufficient evidence to provide that assurance. The ONS will work with partners to obtain fuller information on the quality of the Homicide Index and will request a re-assessment by the UK Statistics Authority in due course.

Firearms

Information is available from the police on whether a firearm is used during any recorded notifiable offence. If a firearm had been used, the Home Office receive additional data about the circumstances of that offence. Offences involving the use of firearms relate to any crime recorded by the police where a firearm has been discharged, used as a blunt instrument or in a threat. Firearm

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possession offences, where the firearm has not been used, are not included. Firearms covered by the Firearms Act 1968 include handguns, shotguns, rifles, imitation weapons, air weapons and some other weapon types such as CS gas and pepper sprays.

CSEW 10 to 15 year olds

Since January 2009, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) has asked children aged 10 to 15 resident in households in England and Wales about their experience of crime in the previous 12 months. The questionnaire has been refined since its inception with the most recent data published in Crime in England and Wales, year ending September 2014. Violence accounts for a large proportion of the crimes experienced by 10 to15 year olds. Methodological differences mean that direct comparisons cannot be made between the adult and child data (Millard and Flatley, 2010).Children are not asked questions about intimate violence reported on in the last section of this bulletin.

CSEW self-completion intimate violence questions

Figures on prevalence of domestic violence based on face-to-face Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) interviews are regularly published (for example, many of the Appendix tables and ‘Nature of crime’ tables published with this release break violence down into different categories, including one labelled ‘domestic violence’).

The issue of willingness to disclose incidents in face-to-face interviews means that this crime type is particularly liable to under-reporting using this method. Since 2004/05 respondents have been asked a self-completion set of questions, in addition to the questions asked by interviewers directly, to provide a more complete measure of intimate violence victimisation.

The self-completion set of questions provide estimates of non-sexual abuse by partners or family members, and sexual assault and stalking, which can be combined in several ways. Only a small proportion (5%) of respondents who reported being victims of domestic abuse in the self-completion module had reported that they were victims of domestic violence in face-to-face interviews, reflecting both the broader scope of domestic abuse, and the sensitivity and complexity of this topic. A full discussion of the definitions, issues, and estimates from this module can be found in the ‘Intimate Personal Violence and Serious Sexual Assault’ chapter.

In the 2010/11 CSEW, a split sample experiment was started to test a set of alternative questions on intimate violence. The split sample experiment considered the use of explicit language in the questions and the ease of answering the questions as a respondent. After some further development for the 2012/13 survey, the new questions were incorporated for the whole sample for the 2013/14 CSEW. More information on the development of the new questions can be found in the accompanying methodological note.

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Additional sources

NHS hospital admissions are collated from Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES). They include patient- level data on hospital admissions (inpatient episodes), outpatient appointments, and Accident and Emergency attendances. Inpatient episodes have been collected since 1989.

The data include specific information about the patient, such as age, gender and ethnicity; clinical information about diagnoses, operations and consultant specialties; administrative information, such as time waited, and dates and methods of admission and discharge; and geographical information such as where the patient was treated and the area in which they live. The external cause data includes specific codes for assault by various means (for example: sharp object, blunt object, handgun discharge, etc.).

While the inpatient data are unaffected by police enforcement activity, in contrast to police recorded crime data, and are generally considered to be complete and robust, there are three key caveats to their use. First, it should be remembered that HES data relates to hospital activity not individuals. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to procedures being undertaken in outpatient settings and therefore no longer being included in admitted patient data. Second, the admissions data do not include cases where someone came to Accident and Emergency with a violence-related injury but was not admitted (for example, minor injuries) or refused treatment. Third, there are potential recording differences in the external cause coding between Trusts. For example, injury information could be missing from the admission episode record and added later to a subsequent episode record. In addition, the coding is dependent on the clinician’s judgement about the underlying cause of the admission, which may be difficult to ascertain.

List of Products

Release tables published alongside this commentary include a set of bulletin tables containing the data tables and numbers appearing behind graphs in this publication, and more detailed estimates and counts of crime levels as set out in the table below.

The following are URL links associated with the production of Crime Statistics.

1. Crime statistics publications on the Home Office website 2. Historic police recorded crime 3. Previous quarterly publication 4. User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales 5. The 2013/14 Crime Survey for England and Wales Technical Report Volume 1 6. Analysis of Variation in Crime Trends (methodological note) 7. Future Dissemination Strategy – Summary of Responses 8. Presentational changes to National Statistics on police recorded crime in England and Wales (methodological note) 9. Presentational and methodological improvements to National Statistics on the Crime Survey for England and Wales (methodological note) 10. ‘Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2012/13’. Published 13 February 2014 11. ‘Focus on Victimisation and Public Perceptions 2012/13’. Published 30 May 2014

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12. ‘Focus on Property Crime, 2013/14’. Published 27 November 2014 13. National Statistician’s Review of Crime Statistics

Anonymised datasets from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (in SPSS format) currently are available on:

• The UK Data Service and the ONS Virtual Micro data Laboratory (VML)

In addition to these Official Statistics releases, provisional police recorded crime data drawn from local management information systems sit behind, street level figures released each month, via:

• Police recorded crime, street level mapping tool • Crime Statistics for Scotland are available from the Scottish Government • Crime Statistics for Northern Ireland are available from the Police Service of Northern Ireland

References

Boreham, R. (et al), 2007, ‘The Arrestee Survey 2003 – 2006’, London: Home Office

Budd, T., 2003, ‘Alcohol-related assault: findings from the British Crime Survey’, Online Report 35/03, Home Office

Dingwall, G., 2006, ‘Alcohol and Crime Devon’, Willan Publishing

Eurostat, 2014, ‘Crime Statistics’

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), 2013, ‘Mistakes were made: HMIC’s review into allegations and intelligence material concerning Jimmy Savile between 1964 and 2012’

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), 2014a, ‘Crime data integrity force reports’

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), 2014b, ‘Crime-recording: making the victim count’

Hughes, K. (et al), 2010, ‘Environmental factors in drinking venues and alcohol-related harm: the evidence base for European Intervention’, Addiction, vol. 106 (1), pp. 37–46

Matthews, S. and Richardson, A., 2005, ‘Findings from the 2003 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey: alcohol related crime and disorder’, London: Home Office

Millard and Flatley, eds., 2010, ‘Experimental statistics on victimisation of children aged 10 to 15: Findings from the British Crime Survey for the year ending December 2009 England and Wales’, Home Office statistical bulletin 11/10

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Ministry of Justice, 2014, ‘Criminal Justice Statistics 2013’

Ministry of Justice, ONS, Home Office, 2013, ‘An overview of sexual offending in England and Wales’

Office for National Statistics, 2013b, ‘Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2011/12’

Office for National Statistics, 2013c, ‘Future dissemination strategy for the publication of national Statistics on Crime in England and Wales’

Office for National Statistics, 2013d, ‘Presentational changes to National Statistics on police recorded crime in England and Wales’

Office for National Statistics, 2013e, ‘Focus on Property Crime, 2012/13’