Spotlight
Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2021
What's in the bulletin?
- Patterns of crime over the last two years have been substantially affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and government restrictions on social contact. While periods of national lockdown have seen decreases in the incidence of many types of crime, fraud and computer misuse offences have not followed a lockdown-related pattern and have increased substantially.
- Since restrictions were lifted following the third national lockdown in early 2021, police recorded crime data show indications that certain offence types are returning to or exceeding the levels seen before the pandemic. While violence and sexual offences recorded by the police have exceeded pre-pandemic levels, theft offences and robbery remain at a lower level despite increases over the last nine months.
- New TCSEW data provided insights into phishing, one of the main methods used for committing fraud. Although less than 1% of survey respondents who received a suspected phishing message provided personal details that criminals could use, the scale of phishing messages received every month is likely to translate into a high number of fraud offences.
Child victims of modern slavery in the UK: March 2022
What's in the bulletin?
- An increase of 27% (to 3,239) in the number of modern slavery offences involving a child victim recorded by the police in England and Wales in the year ending March 2021 compared with the previous year.
- A 43% decrease in the number of potential child victims reported to the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline in the year ending December 2021 compared with the previous year.
- 16,830 episodes of need for child sexual exploitation and 2,710 for trafficking identified by the Department for Education’s children in need census in the year ending March 2021, both representing a 10% decrease from the previous year; likely the result of a fall in referrals from schools during the pandemic
Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest insights
A live roundup of the latest data and trends about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from the ONS and other sources.
Datasets related to Crime and justice
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Violence against women and girls: Data landscape
A comprehensive list of data sources relating to violence against women and girls, bringing together a range of different sources from across government, academia and the voluntary sector.
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Appendix tables : Police recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments: methodology changes
Selected violent and sexual offences involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded by the police, year ending March 2020 previous method of collection compared to new NDQIS method.
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The nature of violent crime: appendix tables
Violent crime numbers, prevalence and location from the Crime Survey for England and Wales and police recorded crime. Also includes data from the telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales showing prevalence of violence for May 2020 to March 2021 and various demographic characteristics.
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Appendix tables: homicide in England and Wales
Findings from the analyses based on the Homicide Index recorded by the Home Office, including long-term trends, sex of the victim, apparent method of killing and relationship to victim.
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Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables
Data tables relating to offences involving weapons as recorded by police and hospital episode statistics.
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Methodology note on the possible order effect on responses to questions on anti-social behaviour from changes in the Crime Survey for England and Wales questionnaire - Appendix tables
Appendix tables to accompany the methodology note that presents findings from analysis to investigate whether increases in anti social behaviour (ASB) are a result of an order effect caused by changes to the survey instrument or are indicative of a genuine rise in these experiences.
Publications related to Crime and justice
Statistical bulletins
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Perceptions of personal safety and experiences of harassment, Great Britain: 16 February to 13 March 2022
Perceptions of safety and experiences of harassment, by personal characteristics, based on the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).
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Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2021
Crime against households and adults using data from police recorded crime and the new Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales. Includes the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on crime and people’s perceptions of crime during the January 2021 to December 2021 interview periods. See Section 12 for information on our upcoming user consultation on the future of the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
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Child abuse in England and Wales: March 2020
Statistics and research on child abuse in England and Wales, bringing together a range of different data sources from across government and the voluntary sector.
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Sexual offences in England and Wales overview: year ending March 2020
Figures on sexual offences from the year ending March 2020 Crime Survey for England and Wales and crimes recorded by police.
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Domestic abuse in England and Wales overview: November 2021
Figures on domestic abuse from police recorded crime and a number of different organisations.
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Online bullying in England and Wales: year ending March 2020
Estimates of the prevalence and nature of online bullying among children using data from the 10- to 15-year-olds’ Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
Articles
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The impact of crime on victims and society
This article summarises the crime harm framework that has been used to categorise existing related data in the new crime harm interactive database. It also includes information on how to use the recently updated Crime Severity Score data tool.
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Sourcing data on child victims of modern slavery, UK: progress report
An update on sourcing suitable data for Sustainable Development Goal indicators relating to modern slavery and children in the UK.
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Victimisation and its relationship to drug misuse, common mental disorder and well-being in England and Wales
An overview of drug misuse, symptoms of common mental disorder and personal well-being in adults who reported being a victim of crime in the last year. Data are from the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales.
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The lasting impact of violence against women and girls
Violence against women and girls can lead to significant and long-lasting impacts such as mental health issues, suicide attempts and homelessness, ONS analysis shows.
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The nature of violent crime in England and Wales
A summary of violent crime from the Crime Survey for England and Wales and police recorded crime.
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Homicide in England and Wales
Analyses of information held within the Home Office Homicide Index, which contains detailed record-level information about each homicide recorded by police in England and Wales.
Methodology related to Crime and justice
- Improving Crime Statistics for England and Wales – progress update July 2021
- Comparability between the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales and the face-to-face Crime Survey for England and Wales
- User guide to crime statistics for England and Wales: measuring crime during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
- Police recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments: methodology changes
- Methodology note on the possible order effect on responses to questions on anti-social behaviour from changes in the Crime Survey for England and Wales questionnaire
- Crime and justice methodology
- Child abuse QMI
- Domestic abuse QMI
- Crime in England and Wales QMI
Looking for local statistics?
A handy guide to let you know where to find local statistics.