http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3409903/Sex-crimes-reported-...
Please see above link to the Daily Mails article, reporting that sex crimes have been reported at a record high level in the UK. Murder, Knife and even Gun crime has rose over the last year according to the report. Whilst, there seems to be a political slant to the article, it also mentions why there appears to be an increase the amount of crime. Well worth a read and I am sure plenty of food for thought for everyone on here :)
Leigh
The actual report can be found here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_430813.pdf
I’d always advise going to the report as opposed to secondary reporting of the report. If you do that you can get a better feel for what is going on and see that, while there are areas for concern, it’s not as bleak as the headlines suggest. For example:
So the overall increase is thought to be down to better record keeping.
When it comes to the homicide statistics the 14% rise is not a frightening as you first may think due to the overall very low rate:
It is a similar thing with firearms offenses. The “4% rise” headline does not reveal the fact that the rates are very low and we are still 50% down on where we are a decade ago.
The most worrying figure would seem to be the leap in sexual offenses, but as the report itself makes clear the figures are not entirely negative because it seems people are more willing to come forward and there have been improvements in police recording.
The report also points out as one of its main findings that:
This is good news because had there also been a corresponding jump in the CSEW then these figures from the Office for National Statistics would have undoubtedly been due to crime moving strongly in a negative direction. However, the difference would lend weight to the conclusion that the increases are mainly (but not entirely) due to better recording and an improved willingness of victims to report crime.
So, as usual, its mixed bag of information with some good news and some bad news.
All the best,
Iain
As Iain says, where numbers are low the %increase or decrease will tend to be a large figure. The detail is in the small print.
I've always found it useful to look at the CSEW data alongside the Violent Crime related A&E data for a better informed picture.
The 2015 report is not yet available as far as I can see.
Cardiff University - Children & Young People Now
All the best
John Titchen
Just a few points; I concur with the general view that there is a definite propensity to report crime but a good percentage of crimes are committed by a small number of criminals in many cases who are prolific offenders.
However in my view the increase in the murder rate would be higher if it wasn’t for quick and better medical treatment and long term medical care in short what would have been a murder 10 years ago now due to medical treatment becomes a grievous bodily harm.
In 2011 over half a million crimes were committed by repeat offenders and I would say that percentage hasn’t changed. Also crime is very disproportionate and not evenly spread for example in London between April 2013 to March 2014 violence against the person was 26 per 1000 in Tower Hamlets as against 10 per 1000 in Richmond and one could further break that down by area within those boroughs which would probably show that some areas especially in Richmond would have no violent crime.
The tendency to report crime with more frequency shouldn't be downplayed, whatever else may also be true. The government department where I worked in the 90s ran "Domestic Abuse" awareness campaigns every February. Like clockwork, every March and April we saw a spike in usage at Family Violence shelters, as people became aware that what they thought was a dirty secret or somehow their own fault ... didn't have to be.
It didn't mean that people beat up their families more frequently in March and April.