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Release: Crime Statistics, period ending September 2012

Released: 24 January 2013 Next edition: 25 April 2013
This product is designated as National Statistics All editions of this release

Contact

John Flatley

Crime Statistics and Analysis Division

crimestatistics@ons.gsi.gov.uk

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7592 8695

Categories: Crime, Crime and Justice, Crime Trends, Crime in England and Wales

Frequency of release: Quarterly

Language: English

Geographical coverage: England and Wales

Geographical breakdown: Local Authority and County

Survey name(s): Crime Survey for England and Wales

  • Latest figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimate that there were 8.9 million crimes against adults in England and Wales in the year ending September 2012, an 8% decrease compared with the previous year’s survey. This reduction was driven by statistically significant decreases in vandalism, burglary and vehicle-related theft.
  • In addition, the CSEW estimated that there were 0.8 million crimes against children aged 10-15.
  • The police recorded 3.8 million crimes in the year ending September 2012, a decrease of 7% compared with the previous year.
  • There were an additional 1.0 million offences dealt with by the courts in the year ending June 2012 (the latest period for which data are available), which are not included in the police recorded crime figures.
  • All of the main categories of police recorded crime fell in the year ending September 2012 compared with the previous year, though there were some increases in sub-categories. For example, theft from the person increased by 6% from the previous year, continuing the upward trend seen since 2009/10.
  • In addition, around 2.4 million incidents of anti-social behaviour were recorded by the police in the year ending September 2012.
  • New figures from the 2012 Commercial Victimisation Survey estimated that there were 9.2 million incidents of crime against businesses in England and Wales in the four sectors covered by the survey in the preceding 12 months.

In this release

Other Useful Information

Following the Home Secretary’s acceptance of the recommendations of the National Statistician’s Review of crime statistics in June 2011 the collation and publication of crime statistics moved to the ONS on 1 April 2012. For previous publications please see the Home Office website.

This release represents the fourth such publication from ONS. To provide continuity for users of these statistics the same information previously produced by the Home Office is provided with this release. Data are presented in a slightly different format, including more long-term trends and other data sources. Results of a public consultation on the future dissemination strategy of crime statistics will be published on the ONS website on 31 January 2013.

For information on how to interpret the crime statistics please see the User Guide to Crime Statistics for England and Wales (483.8 Kb Pdf) .

For advance warning of future changes to the police recorded crime collection see the methodological note.

For information on our analysis of variation in crime trends see our methodological note 'Analysis of variation in crime trends: A study of trends in ‘comparable crime’ categories between the Crime Survey for England and Wales and the police recorded crime series between 1981 and 2011/12 (175.4 Kb Pdf) '

Crime Statistics Advisory Committee

In line with the National Statistician’s recommendations an independent Crime Statistics Advisory Committee has also been formed to provide advice on issues related to the collection and presentation of these statistics. Please see the UK Statistics Authority website for further information and minutes of meetings.

Further sources of police recorded crime data

Historic police recorded crime data tables can be found on the Home Office website.

Police forces publish provisional recorded crime data at street level on the police website (The Office for National Statistics is not responsible for the content of this website).

Further survey information

A technical report is available providing information on CSEW survey design, weighting and survey response. The latest report is the British Crime Survey (England and Wales) 2010-11 technical report. 

Anonymised datasets from the BCS (in SPSS format) are available on the UK Data Archive through the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS). Researchers, including students, who need data for dissertations or practical work can use these datasets.

See the following websites for the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey and the Northern Ireland Crime Survey.

Contact

If you have any queries regarding crime statistics for England and Wales please email: crimestatistics@ons.gsi.gov.uk

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

  • meet identified user needs;
  • are well explained and readily accessible;
  • are produced according to sound methods; and
  • are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

Content from the Office for National Statistics.
© Crown Copyright applies unless otherwise stated.

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