Over the decades, the overall trend has been that crime rates have decreased, but the last year has been more stable.
It is estimated that 2 in 10 adults experienced crime in the latest year – figures from June 2017 to June 2018. However, we can see from data published by the Office for National Statistics that whilst some types of crime have decreased, others have risen, so it becomes important to look at individual types of crime to fully understand crime rates in England and Wales.
An area of crime that has seen the most increase relates to public order offences, which has a 30% increase. The Office for National Statistics state that this increase may also reflect the improvements and changes made to recording practices, but do also state that the increase may also reflect a genuine rise in this type of crime.
Another area of crime that has seen a 30% increase is computer misuse. However, the data for this crime has only been compared to two data points, so caution must be taken when analysing this data.
Whilst the above two areas of crime are examples of increases, criminal damage and fraud offences have remained stable. The area of crime with the lowest rise is sexual offences, with an increase of 0.8%.
It is clear to see from the data that whilst crime rates have remained stable overall, the level of crime between individual offences has dipped and peaked over the years.
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