The Prevalence of Arson: The British Crime Survey

The British crime Survey (B.C.S.) (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hosb1800.pdf) provides a count of crimes against private households that includes incidents not reported to the police. It also provides information on the nature of incidents and the consequences of crime for the victims.

The B.C.S. codes as arson any incident (including thefts, assaults and criminal damage) involving deliberate damage by fire. In practice, just under half are fire damage to cars, usually stolen ones. Most of the remainder are fire damage to the home or garden.

Because arson is relatively rare the survey does not collect details of many incidents in any one sweep. However, unlike some other offences a high proportion of incidents were reported to the police, reflecting the large proportion of these incidents that involve stolen cars.

Trends

The B.C.S. does not suggest that there was much change in the extent of arson between 1993 and 1995. There were 56 incidents per 10,000 households in 1993 compared to 62 in 1995. The proportion of households that were victims of an arson attack was 0.4% in 1993 and 0.5% in 1995. Due to a question change between the 1992 and 1994 surveys, estimates from previous sweeps are not on a comparable base.