What's going on with the crime rate?
There has been a lot of discussion over recent months about the ongoing decline in the official crime rate. Yesterday's data from the Office for National Statistics suggested crime had fallen by 10 per cent during the last year.
What's going on?
The UK Justice Policy Review team is tracking crime trends across the United Kingdom as part of its annual reports. You can download the first two editions by clicking the links on the right hand side of the page.
UK Justice Policy Review is produced by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. Further analysis on crime trends is available on the Centre's website, particularly:
- 'Making sense of crime trends'. Richard Garside sheds light on the trends in police recorded crime data.
- 'Property crime, violence and recessions'. Richard Garside assesses trends in the Crime Survey for England and Wales and explains why recession does not necessarily mean more crime.
- 'Crime Statistics: Some Rumsfeldian ruminations'. Nic Groombridge writes on why it will never be possible to get fully accurate crime statistics.
Next week the Centre's Director, Richard Garside, will be giving evidence to the House of Commons Justice Committee on what works in crime reduction.
The Centre's evidence to the Justice Committee explains why the police, courts and prisons have little impact on the crime rates.