The government published a compendium of criminal statistics for England and Wales in 2002. The figures showed that 111,600 people were sentenced to immediate custody in 2002, a rise of more than 5,000 over 2001 and nearly twice the number in 1992. Judges apparently ignored guidelines stipulating that burglars and class 'A' drug traffickers should receive lengthy custodial sentences following a third offence.
Source: Criminal Statistics: England and Wales 2002, Cm 6054, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf) | Links to supplementary tables | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Dec
The government published a collection of articles examining developments in the modelling of crime and offending.
Source: Modelling Crime and Offending: Recent developments in England and Wales, Occasional Paper 80, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Paper (pdf)
Date: 2003-Dec
An all-party group of MPs called for the number of police officers authorised to use firearms to be increased, a ban on imitation weapons, and for police forces to improve co-ordination on gun crime. It also recommended that more be done to protect witnesses to gun crimes.
Source: Combating the Threat of Gun Violence, All Party Parliamentary Group on Gun Crime (020 7881 9289)
Links: Report (pdf) | Home Office press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2003-Nov
The total number of firearm offences in England and Wales in 2002-03 (excluding those involving air weapons) was around 10,250 (3 per cent higher than in 2001-02). The rate of increase recorded in firearms offences was sharpest in autumn 2001, and had been slowing since then: since November 2002 gun crime had been falling on an annualised basis.
Source: Gun Crime: Latest trends, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Report (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Oct
Researchers reviewed previous research on homophobic harassment in England, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland; analysed all homophobic incidents recorded by the Northern Ireland police service from July 2000 to December 2002; and surveyed the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities in Northern Ireland to determine their experiences of homophobic harassment and violence.
Source: Neil Jarman and Alex Tennant, An Acceptable Prejudice? Homophobic violence and harassment in Northern Ireland, Institute for Conflict Research (028 9074 2682)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Sep
The government said that it would no longer make adjustments to recorded crime figures to reflect the impact of new reporting standards adopted in April 2002.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Answers 1 September 2003, columns 971-973W, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard
Date: 2003-Sep
An article provided an analysis of the impact of the Shipman case on mortality statistics, and put on record the annual number of homicides in England and Wales including those carried out by Shipman. As Shipman cited common causes of death on the death certificates of those he killed, the impact on those causes of death was negligible. However, the impact on homicide data was much greater: homicides by Shipman accounted for, on average, 1 per cent of total homicides, and 19 per cent of homicides by poisoning, in between 1975 and 1998. (Harold Shipman was a family doctor found guilty in 2000 of murdering 15 patients. An inquiry later found that he unlawfully killed at least 215 patients between 1975 and 1998.)
Source: Clare Griffiths, 'The impact of Harold Shipman s unlawful killings on mortality statistics by cause in England and Wales', Health Statistics Quarterly 19, Autumn 2003, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Article (pdf)
Date: 2003-Aug
A report found that the government's 'street crime initiative' resulted in robbery being cut by 17 per cent in the ten designated areas. But it criticised 'misleading' presentation of success rates in drug treatment for offenders. The government said the initiative had been an 'outstanding success'.
Source: Streets Ahead: Joint inspection of the Street Crime Initiative, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (and seven other official inspectorates), available from Home Office (020 7273 2084) | Press release 29.7.03, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report part 1 (pdf) | Part 2 (pdf) | Part 3 (pdf) | Part 4 (pdf) | Home Office press release
Date: 2003-Jul
Crime in England and Wales fell by 2 per cent in 2002-03, according to the British Crime Survey. Police-recorded crime for the same period also fell, by 3 per cent after adjustment for recording changes. Violent crime levels were stable overall, though there was a considerable increase in the recording of low-level offences not involving serious physical injury, which drove up the category of violent crime . Two companion reports analysed the impact of the national crime recording standard, introduced formally in all police forces in April 2002.
Source: Jon Simmons and Tricia Dodd (eds.), Crime in England and Wales: 2002/2003, Statistical Bulletin 7/03, Home Office (020 7273 2084) | Jon Simmons, Clarissa Legg and Rachel Hosking, National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS): Analysis of the impact on recorded crime - Part one: National picture, On-Line Report 31/03, Home Office (web publication only) | Jon Simmons, Clarissa Legg and Rachel Hosking, National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS): Analysis of the impact on recorded crime - Part two: Impact on individual police forces, On-Line Report 32/03, Home Office (web publication only)
Links: Bulletin 7/03 (pdf) | Home Office press release | Online report 31 (pdf) | Online report 32 (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jul
A research paper estimated the impact of recorded domestic property crime on property prices in the London area. Crimes in the 'criminal damage' category had a significant negative impact on prices, although burglaries did not. It was suggested that vandalism, graffiti and other forms of criminal damage caused fear of crime in the community, and could be taken as signals of community instability and neighbourhood deterioration in general.
Source: Steve Gibbons, The Costs of Urban Property Crime, DP574, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics (020 7955 7673)
Links: Paper (pdf) | Abstract
Date: 2003-Jun
A compendium of information on crime and criminal justice in Northern Ireland was published, covering six main areas: recorded crime, offences cleared by the police, court proceedings, sentencing, prison population and receptions, and crime victimisation and fear of crime. A crime was experienced by 19.7 per cent of households between 1 September 2000 and 31 August 2001 (compared with 27.8 per cent in Great Britain).
Source: A Commentary on Northern Ireland Crime Statistics 2001, Northern Ireland Office (028 9052 7534)
Links: Report (part 1) (pdf) | Report (part 2) (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2003-Mar
A survey (conducted in January 2003) found that one in four young people aged 12-16 had been a victim of crime in the previous year. Of those who had been a victim of crime, the most common offences reported were violence and assault (54 per cent), and theft (43 per cent).
Source: Crime Against 12 to 16-Year Olds, Victim Support (020 7735 9166)
Links: Press release
Date: 2003-Feb
Two black teenage girls were shot dead early on New Year's Day 2003, after a dispute at a party in Birmingham (apparently between rival gangs). The shootings highlighted concerns over the growing use of firearms to commit crimes, its links to drug dealing, and suggested links to a 'gun culture' within sections of the black community. Official figures showed that gun crime in England and Wales rose by 35 per cent in 2001-02, to reach a record level.
Source: The Guardian, 2.1.03 and 4.1.03 | Claire Flood-Page and Joanna Taylor (eds.), Crime in England and Wales 2001/2002: Supplementary Volume, Statistical Bulletin 01/03, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Guardian report 2.1.03 | Guardian report 4.1.03 | HO Bulletin (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jan
A new book argued that the daily repetition of media violence helps to normalise and legitimise the acts being portrayed.
Source: Cynthia Carter and C. Kay Weaver, Violence and the Media, Open University Press (01280 823388)
Links: No link
Date: 2003-Jan
A report argued that newspapers are failing their readers in coverage of homicide cases. It said that better balance is needed by covering a wider range of cases instead of the current narrow focus on exceptional and dramatic stories.
Source: Brian Francis and Keith Soothill, Homicide and the Media: News coverage and the public portrayal of justice, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Press release | Linked papers
Date: 2003-Jan
A report was published containing supplementary information to accompany the annual Crime in England and Wales 2001/02 (published in July 2002). It included detailed results of British Crime Survey interviews on anti-social behaviour, and on attitudes to the police and the criminal justice system. An increasing number of people believe crime is rising, despite a 22 per cent fall in crime since 1997.
Source: Claire Flood-Page and Joanna Taylor (eds.), Crime in England and Wales 2001/2002: Supplementary Volume, Statistical Bulletin 01/03, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Bulletin (pdf) | 2002 report (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jan
The first quarterly crime update was published. Based on interviews that took place in the year ending September 2002, the British Crime Survey estimate for the number of crimes against adults living in private households was 12.3 million. This represented a fall of seven per cent compared with the 2001 BCS, which covered crime in 2000.
Source: David Povey, Charlotte Ellis and Sian Nicholas, Crime in England and Wales: Quarterly Update 12 months to September 2002, Statistical Bulletin 02/03, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Bulletin (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2003-Jan