Research > Statistics
Crime in England and Wales 2005/06
This bulletin brings together statistics from the British Crime Survey (BCS) and crimes recorded by the police to provide a comprehensive account of patterns and trends in the main high volume crimes. The report includes data from the period April 2005 to March 2006.
Title: Crime in England and Wales 2005/06
Authors: Alison Walker, Chris Kershaw and Sian Nicholas
Series: Home Office Statistical Bulletin 12/06
Number of pages: 200
Date published: July 2006
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Extent and trends
The British Crime Survey (BCS) shows that crime is stabilising after long periods of reduction. Police recorded crime shows a 1% reduction in the number of crimes recorded during 2005/06, following increases after the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in April 2002. |
The report presents a summary of the numbers of crimes captured by the British Crime Survey (BCS), and those crimes that are recorded by the police. These are complementary series that together provide a better picture of crime than could be obtained from either series alone.
Based on BCS interviews taking place in 2005/06, it is estimated that there were approximately 10.9 million crimes against adults living in private households.
Since peaking in 1995, BCS crime has fallen by 44%, representing 8.4 million fewer crimes, with domestic burglary and vehicle crime falling by over a half (59% and 60% respectively) and violent crime falling by 43% during this period. On the recorded crime side, both domestic burglary and theft of and from vehicles have continued to fall over the same period.
The risk of becoming a victim of crime has fallen from 40% at its peak in 1995 to 23% according to BCS interviews in 2005/06, representing just over six million fewer victims. This remains at the lowest level recorded since the BCS began in 1981.
Property crime accounts for the majority of both BCS and recorded crime (77 and 73% respectively).
Violent crime has remained stable according to BCS interviews in 2005/06 compared with 2004/05. Recorded crime statistics show a 2% increase in violent crime in 2005/06 compared with 2004/05.
Almost half of the violent crimes recorded by the BCS and of violence against the person offences recorded by the police involved no injury to the victim.
Public perceptions
Despite the number of crimes estimated by the BCS falling in recent years, comparatively high proportions of people still believe the crime rate to have risen. People have more positive perceptions of crime in their own area than nationally. |
As well as providing an indication of crime levels in England and Wales, the BCS also provides attitudinal measures such as public perceptions of changing crime levels; worry about crime; perceptions of anti-social behaviour; public confidence in the criminal justice system; and victim and witness satisfaction with the police.
Worry about burglary, car crime and violent crime, have remained stable since 2004/05. However, worry about all three crime types has fallen by approximately one third since 2000.
The proportion of people perceiving high levels of anti-social behaviour in their local area has remained stable since 2004/05 at 17%.
In 2005/06 public confidence in the criminal justice system (CJS) has improved in five of the seven areas asked about compared with 2004/05
People's levels of confidence varied across the different areas of the CJS. For example, people were most likely to think that the CJS respects the rights of those accused of committing a crime and treats them fairly (80%) and least likely to believe the CJS is effective in dealing with young people accused of crime (26%).
Victims were satisfied with the way the police handled the matter in 58% of the incidents the police came to know about. Of incidents where the witness had contact with the police, 59% were satisfied. Both of these levels have remained stable since 2004/05.
Readers of national 'tabloids' were around twice as likely as those who read national 'broadsheets' to think the national crime rate has increased 'a lot' in the previous two years (39% and 19% respectively).
Reporting and Recording crime
The rate of victims' reporting of crimes has remained broadly stable since 1995, whereas the rate of recording of crimes by the police increased up to 2004, largely as a result of the introduction of the NCRS. However the latest figures show a decrease in the recording rate on the previous year. Recent results from audits however indicate that police recording standards have continued to improve during 2005. |
BCS and recorded crime (once the latter has been adjusted to reflect crimes covered by the BCS) have tracked each other quite well at the national level. There was a divergence in trends between the two series when the NCRS was introduced in April 2002, however, this appears to be settling down and, since April 2004, the trends have become closer (except in the case of violence without injury).
The public's reporting of crime varies considerably by type of offence. Thefts of vehicles are most likely to be reported (94%), followed by burglaries in which something was stolen (81%). Reporting rates are relatively low for crimes such as common assault, theft from the person and vandalism (35%, 33% and 31% in 2005/06).
The proportion of reported comparable violent crime that was recorded by the police increased slightly from 67% in the year to September 2004 to 68% in the year to September 2005, up from 36% in 1999.
Violent crime
The number of violent crimes experienced by adults remained stable between 2004/05 and 2005/06 BCS interviews. Overall police recorded violent crime increased by 2% between 2004/05 and 2005/06. |
The British Crime Survey (BCS) is considered the more reliable measure of violent crime. Police recorded violent crime has been inflated over the last few years by changes in recording practices (particularly marked since the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002), increased reporting by the public and increased police activity.
Violent crime as measured by the BCS has fallen by 43% since a peak in 1995.
Just under half (49%) of all violent incidents reported to the BCS did not result in any injury to the victim. A similar proportion (47%) of all police recorded violence against the person in 2005/06 involved no injury.
Young men, aged 16 to 24, were most at risk of being a victim of violent crime in 2005/06; 12.6% experienced a violent crime of some sort in the year prior to their BCS interview.
Police recorded robbery increased by 8% between 2004/05 and 2005/06. This is still 19% below the 2001/02 peak in robbery.
There were 765 homicides in 2005/06, a decrease of 12% from the previous year. The homicide figure of 765 includes 52 homicide victims of the 7 July London bombings. The number of police recorded firearm offences increased by less than 1%.
Property crime
Property crime has fallen considerably since 1995. Overall household acquisitive crime, as measured by the BCS, has fallen by more than half (55%) between 1995 and 2005/06. |
The majority of high-volume property crimes are acquisitive crimes which comprise both household (burglary, vehicle-related theft and other household thefts) and personal (theft from the person and other thefts of personal property) acquisitive crimes. In addition information on other types of property crimes such as criminal damage are presented.
Domestic burglaries remained stable between 2004/05 and 2005/06 BCS interviews. Overall, police recorded burglary fell 5% in 2005/06. The BCS and police recorded crime have both shown considerable falls in burglary levels since peaks in the early-mid 1990s.
The fall in vehicle-related thefts since the mid 1990s has continued in the most recent period. A fall of 8% was measured by the BCS and 3% by police recorded crime between 2004/05 and 2005/06.
For both burglary and vehicle-related crime, having security measures in place was strongly associated with lower levels of victimisation.
The BCS showed that the number of other household thefts, thefts from the person and other thefts of personal property remained stable between 2004/05 and 2005/06. Police recorded crime showed a 2% fall in other thefts and handling stolen goods (excluding vehicle-related thefts) within the same period.
Criminal damage remained stable between 2004/05 and 2005/06 as measured by the BCS. The police recorded a 1% fall in total criminal damage and a 5% decline in the number of arson offences between 2004/05 and 2005/06.
Total recorded drug offences increased by 23% in 2005/06 compared with 2004/05. The increase, for the most part, was due to a 36% increase in the recording of possession of cannabis offences that coincided with an increase in the number of formal warnings for the possession of cannabis. This increase in formal warnings accounts for around two thirds of the increase in cannabis possession offences.
Geographic patterns of crime
Recorded crime data indicate that crime was not evenly distributed across England and Wales. The 10% of CDRPs with the highest rates of recorded burglary accounted for 37% of all recorded burglaries in England and Wales. |
The report also investigates how crime is geographically distributed across England and Wales. Patterns in crime are explored by looking at recorded crime at the geographic level of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships. BCS data are used to look at variation in crime rates by type of area (including rural and urban areas and differing levels of deprivation).
The 2005/06 BCS showed that people living in more deprived areas were more likely to be a victim of crime than those living in less deprived areas; 12% of households in the most employment-deprived areas had been a victim of one or more vehicle thefts, compared with 7% of those in the least employment-deprived areas.
The 2005/06 BCS found that the risk of being a victim of personal crime ranged from 5% in Wales and the South West, to 8% in the London region, with the England and Wales figure being 6%.
The lowest rates of burglary recorded by the police were in Wales, the South East and South West (9, 10 and 10 offences per 1,000 population respectively). The highest rate was 16 offences per 1,000 population in Yorkshire and the Humber, with the England and Wales rate being 12. Burglary rates in the 2005/06 BCS were significantly lower than the England and Wales average in the South East.
Just over 20% of recorded violent crime was in the London region where the rates of recorded violent crime were highest at 34 offences per 1,000 population. However, this rate is inflated by the size of the resident population relative to the visiting population. The Eastern region recorded the lowest rate of violent crime at 17 offences per 1,000 population.
Detection of crime
There were just over 1.3 million crimes detected using sanction detections* in 2005/06 and there were a little under 200,000 crimes detected through other methods (non-sanction detections), where no further action was taken. |
There have been a variety of changes to the count of detections over recent years. Detection statistics are only one measure of police effectiveness, and it should be noted that detection rates can vary considerably depending on the type of crime and the manner in which a crime is brought to police attention. Not all crimes in which a suspect is identified will necessarily be reflected in the count of detected crimes. Conversely not all detections result in a charge/summons and a court appearance, but for those that do not, the police must still obtain evidence that they consider sufficient to charge and convict.
The overall number of recorded detections in 2005/06 increased by 5% compared with 2004/05 figures. The number of sanction detections* rose by 14%, while non-sanction detections fell by one-third. These different trends reflect an increasing focus by the police on securing sanction detections*.
The proportion of recorded crimes detected by a sanction detection* increased from 21% in 2004/05 to 24% in 2005/06.
The largest change in sanction detection* rate by offence group was for violence against the person which increased from 36% to 42%.
* Sanction detections are charges/summonses, cautions, offences taken into consideration, penalty notices for disorder and formal warnings for cannabis possession.
Getting a copy
The online version on the Home Office RDS website includes both the full report and selected chapters as PDF files, and a number of tables in Excel format.
View Crime in England and Wales 2005/06 on the Home Office RDS website.
Last update: 20 July 2006