Home Office Statistical Bulletin The Research, Development and Statistics Directorate exists Crime in England and Wales to improve policy making, decision taking and practice 200 in support of the Home Office 9/10 purpose and aims, to provide the public and Parliament with Findings from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime information necessar y for informed debate and to publish information for future use. Edited by: John Flatley, Chris Kershaw, Kevin Smith, Rupert Statistical Bulletins are Chaplin and Debbie Moon prepared by staff in Home Office Statistics under the National Statistics Code of Practice and can be downloaded from both the UK Statistics Authority website and the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website: www.statistics.gov.uk www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds © Crown Copyright 2010 July 2010 12/10 ISSN 1358-510X Crime in England and Wales 2009/10 Findings from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime Edited by: John Flatley, Chris Kershaw, Kevin Smith, Rupert Chaplin and Debbie Moon ISSN 1358-510X ISBN 978 1 84987 235 5 July 2010 Acknowledgements This bulletin has been prepared by staff in the Home Office Statistics Unit of the Science and Research Group. We thank the individual chapter authors and are grateful for the additional support received from: Gordon Barclay, Kathryn Coleman, Anastasia Fawcett, Timothy Hand, Jacqueline Hoare, Peter Kaiza, Bryce Millard, Matthew Scribbins and David Wall. Special thanks are due to Maya Bhudia and Jabeen Paracha who coordinated the production of the volume, to Paul Taylor and Andrew Britton who managed the data processing and to Vicky Cotter who coordinated production of the User Guide to Home Office Crime Statistics. The editors also thank David Blunt, the Home Office Chief Statistician and Head of Profession for Statistics, and Bernard Silverman, the Chief Scientific Adviser, for their support and guidance during the preparation of this report. Thanks also to colleagues who commented on a draft report during quality assurance of this volume and colleagues in the Communications Development Section who assisted in preparing the report. We would like to thank staff in the Policing Data Collection Section in the Home Office and the crime registrars and statistical staff in the police forces of England and Wales. Thanks also to all the staff involved in the work on the BCS at TNS-BMRB, the interviewers working on the BCS and the 45,000 members of the public who gave up their time to take part in the survey. Further information Currently, these crime statistics are published four times a year; a main annual volume with extensive headline figures and commentary and three quarterly updates which provide a summary of latest BCS and recorded crime statistics. Additionally, a number of supplementary volumes are produced, containing in-depth analysis of issues such as homicide, violent crime, and perceptions of crime. The publication schedule will be reviewed in the context of the UK Statistics Authority report on Overcoming Barriers to Trust in Crime Statistics (UK Statistics Authority, 2010). The dates of forthcoming publications are pre-announced and can be found via the UK National Statistics Publication Hub: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/index.html Copies of ‘Crime in England and Wales 2009/10’ and other Home Office statistical bulletins are available from the Research Development Statistics Internet site: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.html For further information about the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime statistics, please email [email protected] or write to: Home Office Statistics, 5th Floor, Peel Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF Home Office Responsible Statistician David Blunt, Chief Statistician and Head of Profession for Statistics Contact via [email protected] This statistical bulletin is a National Statistics output produced to the highest professional standards and free from political interference. It has been produced by statisticians working in the Home Office Statistics Unit. The governance arrangements in the Home Office for statistics were strengthened on 1 April 2008 to place the statistical teams under the direct line management of a Chief Statistician, who reports to the National Statistician with respect to all professional statistical matters. Contents Page Contents List of figures and tables Chapter 1 Overview .......................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 Extent and trends ............................................................................................ 9 Sarah Osborne 2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................. 9 2.2 Extent of crime............................................................................................13 2.3 Longer-term trends in crime ........................................................................19 2.4 Repeat victimisation....................................................................................24 2.5 Reporting crime ..........................................................................................25 Chapter 3 Violent and sexual crime................................................................................45 Philip Hall and Jennifer Innes 3.1 Summary....................................................................................................45 3.2 Introduction ................................................................................................46 3.3 Extent and trends in overall violence ...........................................................47 3.4 Violence and injury......................................................................................49 3.5 Risks of becoming a victim of violent crime..................................................51 3.6 Offences involving weapons .......................................................................52 3.7 Robbery......................................................................................................56 3.8 Sexual offences .........................................................................................56 3.9 Domestic abuse ..........................................................................................58 Crime in England and Wales 2009/10 3.10 Violence by type of offender......................................................................58 3.11 Influence of alcohol and drugs...................................................................60 Chapter 4 Acquisitive and other property crime............................................................79 Rachel Murphy and Simon Eder 4.1 Summary....................................................................................................79 4.2 Introduction.................................................................................................80 4.3 Burglary......................................................................................................80 4.4 Vehicle offences .........................................................................................84 4.5 Other theft offences ....................................................................................88 4.6 Criminal damage and vandalism ................................................................91 4.7 Fraud and forgery .......................................................................................93 4.8 Drug offences ............................................................................................97 Chapter 5 Public perceptions........................................................................................109 Jenny Parfrement-Hopkins and Bryony Green 5.1 Summary..................................................................................................109 5.2 Introduction...............................................................................................110 5.3 Perceptions of crime .................................................................................110 5.4 Anti-social behaviour.................................................................................116 5.5 Confidence in the police and local partners ...............................................118 5.6 Ratings and perceptions of the local police................................................120 5.7 Confidence in the criminal justice system .................................................122 Chapter 6 Detection of crime ........................................................................................149 Irene Ogunbor and Paul Taylor 6.1 Summary..................................................................................................149 Contents 6.2 Introduction...............................................................................................149 6.3 Detection rates and numbers ....................................................................150 6.4 Trends over time.......................................................................................154 Chapter 7 Geographic patterns of crime ......................................................................165 Neil Higgins, Paul Robb and Andrew Britton 7.1 Summary..................................................................................................165 7.2 Introduction...............................................................................................166 7.3 Crime