Crime statistics for England and Wales
violent crime and sexual offences
1.9m incidents of violent crime were recorded in 2012-13 by the Crime Survey for England and Wales. See what the latest figures
1.9m violent incidents were recorded by the Crime Survey for England and Wales. Photograph: Peter J Ordan/PA
There were 1.9m violent incidents in England and Wales in 2012-13, with just over one in fifty adults victimised, according to the latest figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), released today.
Violent crime has decreased by 13% over the past five years and 35% on the peak figure of 4.2m in 1995. The CSEW surveys people across the country face-to-face and as a result differs from the number of crimes reported by police, as we reported last month.
The definition of violent crime in the CSEW also differs somewhat from how the police record it. For example, robbery, which the report describes as "an offence in which violence or the threat of violence is used during a theft" is not included by police as violence against the person but is in the CSEW violence category."
Homicide and sexual offences are also excluded from the overall count of 1.9m given above.
A breakdown of violent crime
The category with the largest number of incidents was assault without injury which made up 37% of the total and then assault with minor injury, which made up 28%.
The number of incidents directed at repeat victims has decreased by 68% since 1995, when violent crime was at its height. However, crime targeted at these victims still makes up more than half (55%) of all incidents recorded.
3.2% of males experienced violent crime in comparison to 1.9% of females. Those aged 16-24 are more than twice as likely to be the victim of violent crime as any other age band. Single people were also far more likely to be victims than those who are married.
Homicide
Although, the CSEW count of violence does not include homicide, the ONS release contained statistics detailing occurrences over the previous year.
Although the 551 homicides recorded in 2012-13 was 20 more than in 2011-12, it is still lower than any other year since 1989's 521.
The number of homicides recorded by the police increased between 1961 and 2002-03 but has seen a generally downward trend since. The peak includes 172 homicides committed by Harold Shipman, which although were committed over a long period of time, were recorded by police in 2002-03 as a result of Dame Janet Smith's inquiry.
The chart below shows the number of homicide offences recorded by the police in England and Wales from 1961 to 2012-13. It's important to note however, that the figures are based on the year in which offences are recorded by police rather than the year of the incident.
As in recent years, two-thirds of homicide victims were male.
45% of all homicides involving females were committed by a partner or ex-partner, compared to 4% for males.
There were 9.7 offences per million in the population. Children under one had the highest victimisation rate at 30 offences per million in the population.
However, homicide still remains at a very low rate in comparison to other causes of death.
Weapons
Knifes and other sharp instruments, such as broken bottles, made up the largest proportion of weapons involved in offences currently recorded as homicides at 35% of the total, down slightly on the previous year's 39%.
A larger proportion of females at 16% than males at 4% were strangled or asphyxiated. Homicides involving shooting, of which each gender was involved in five making ten overall, were at their lowest number since 1980.
Domestic abuse and intimate violence
Women were much more likely to be the victims of domestic or sexual violence. 2% of women and 0.5% of men experienced some form of sexual assault, including attempts, in the last year.
7.1% of women and 4.4% of men reported an experience of domestic abuse in the last year, which is roughly 1.2m females and 700,000 males.
Intimate violence includes experience of emotional, financial and physical abuse by partners or family members, as well as sexual assaults and stalking by any person. The most common form of intimate violence for both men and women was non-sexual partner abuse. When asked if they had experienced this type of abuse since the age of 16, 24% of women and 11% of men said yes.
Nearly 5 million women or 30% of the female population have experienced some form of domestic abuse since the age of 16.
As well as asking about experience of intimate violence, respondents were asked questions to indicate their attitude towards it. One in ten people thought it was mostly or sometimes acceptable to hit their partner in response to having an affair. Respondents aged between 16 and 19 were the likeliest to think that it was acceptable, 16% thought this was the case at least sometimes.
The table below shows the number of incidents by crime type recorded by the CSEW. The downloadable spreadsheet includes the data since 1981. What can you do with this data?
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