Crime in England and Wales, 2008-09

Statistics on police recorded crime and the British Crime Survey include data for England and Wales for the financial year April 2008 to March 2009. The latest release updates the statistics previously released on 17 July 2008.

The key points from the latest release are:

Police recorded crime

• In 2008-09 the total recorded crime rate in Wales (79 offences per 1,000 population) was below the rate for England and Wales as a whole (86 offences per 1,000 population) and lower than six of the nine English Government Office Regions. The recorded crime rates in Wales were the same or lower than the England and Wales rates in all the main offence groups with the exception of criminal damage and Wales had a lower rate for robbery than all the English Government Office Regions.
• The total number of crimes recorded by the police in Wales fell by 3 per cent in 2008-09
• There were reductions across all the main offence groups compared with 2007-08 with the exception of drug offences, fraud and forgery, other theft offences and other offences. Violence against the person, robbery and burglary all decreased by 4 per cent, while sexual offences decreased by 5 per cent and offences against vehicles decreased by 7 per cent.
• Total recorded crime decreased by 6 per cent between 2007-08 and 2008-09 in Dyfed-Powys and by 5 per cent in South Wales. North Wales and Gwent both saw a 1 per cent increase over the same period.
• Wales’ sanction detection rate in 2008-09 was 33 per cent, 2 percentage points higher than in 2007-08, 5 percentage points higher than England and Wales as a whole and higher than  eight of the nine English Government Office Regions.
• 4 per cent of selected serious offences(1) recorded by the police involved a knife or other sharp instrument in Wales, lower than 7 per cent for England and Wales.
• For all offences types except threats to kill a lower proportion of offences involved a knife in Wales compared with England and Wales.

British Crime Survey

• The risk of victimisation(2) for both personal and household crime was lower in Wales than for England and Wales combined. The rate of all BCS violence was also lower in Wales compared with the average for England and Wales.

(1) Figures for certain types of offence recorded by police that involve the use of a knife or other sharp instrument have been collected since April 2007. In 2007/08 these offences comprised attempted murder, grievous bodily harm (GBH) with and without intent, and robbery. The offence coverage was extended from April 2008 to include threats to kill, actual bodily harm, rape and sexual assaults.
(2) The proportion of the population who were victimised once or more.

Further information

Home Office website: Crime in England and Wales, 2008-09

Contact

Tel: 029 2082 6699
E-mail: stats.inclusion@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Next update

July 2010 (provisional - to be confirmed on the 'Due Out Soon' page)