Crime in England and Wales 2007/08

Overall trend on violent crime

• The number of BCS violent crimes experienced by adults has decreased by 12 per cent between 2006/07 and 2007/08 BCS interviews.

• As measured by the BCS, the number of violent incidents has fallen by 48 per cent and 40 per cent since 1995 and 1997 respectively.

• Police recorded violence for all categories against the person and the most serious violence, fell between 2006/07 and 2007/08 by eight per cent and 12 per cent, respectively.

Violence involving knives

• Weapons were used in a quarter (24%) of violent crimes as measured by the BCS in 2007/08, no change from the 2006/07 BCS, and this proportion has been stable over the past decade.

• The proportion of violent incidents where a knife was used has remained at or below 8 per cent since 1995. In 2007/08 a knife was used in 6 per cent of all BCS violent incidents.

• Recorded knife enabled crime data was collected for the first time in 2007/08, for a subset of all violent offences (attempted murder, wounding and robbery).

• In 2007/08 data there were 22,151 knife and sharp instrument offences recorded by the police. The majority of these were for robbery of personal property (52 per cent) or wounding with intent (24 per cent). Other uses were robbery of business/property (11 per cent), wounding with no intent (13 per cent) and attempted murder (1 per cent).

Offences involving firearms

• 4% increase of recorded firearms offences (excluding air weapons) for the year ending December 2007 as compared to the previous year.

• Serious injuries caused by firearms (excluding air weapons) down 16% in the 12 months to December 2007.

• In the same period, there were 49 homicides involving non air weapon firearms (a decrease of 7 offences (or 13%) on the previous 12 months).

• In the same period, there was a decrease of 1% in the number of offences involving handguns.

• Imitation firearms were used in 2,663 offences, up 6% or 161 offences from the previous year.

• Gun crime makes up a small proportion of all violent crime: 1% of violent incidents in 2006/07 used firearms, according to the British Crime Survey, and the proportion of murders involving firearms (i.e. shootings) has remained at or below 12% since 1998/99.

• Gun crime varies across the country: 54% of all non air-weapon firearm offences take place in the Metropolitan (Greater London), Manchester and West Midlands Police areas. 65% of firearms homicides occur in the Metropolitan, Greater Manchester and West Midlands police forces areas.

• Young people are involved in gun crime: 25% of offenders charged with gun-enabled crime in London were aged 17 and under according to the Metropolitan Police Service in 2005/6. According to a 2004 MORI Youth Survey, 2% of school children said they had carried a ‘real/loaded pistol or firearm’, which rose to 7% for excluded young people between 11 and 16. Nearly a quarter and a half (respectively) has carried a BB gun in the past. (It is a crime to carry a BB gun in a public place without good reason).

• According to the latest figures available (2000), the UK had proportionately fewer firearm-related homicides than many other countries including the USA, New Zealand, Canada, France, Australia, the Netherlands, Finland and Germany.

Crime in England and Wales 2006/07

Offences involving firearms

Provisional statistics are available for police recorded crimes in 2006/07 involving firearms other than air weapons (referred to as ‘firearm offences’ in the remainder of this section).

• Firearms are taken to be involved in an incident if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person, or used in a threat. Most offences involving a firearm are violent crimes and more than half (55%) occurred in just three metropolitan forces: London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.
  
• In 2006/07 there were a provisional 9,608 firearm offences recorded in England and Wales, a 13% decrease on 2005/06, and the lowest number recorded since 2000/01.
  
  
• There was a significant increase in the number of firearm offences recorded between 1998/99 and 2001/02, though figures may have been partially influenced by some forces implementing the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard prior to its national introduction on 1 April 2002.
  
  
• The increases have slowed since 2001/02, and the 2006/07 fall is the first since 1997/98.
  
  
• 3% of most serious offences of violence against the person (other than homicide) involved firearms in 2006/07, down from 4% in 2005/06. In terms of numbers of offences, there was a 16% fall from 760 to 635 offences.
  
  
• Less than half of 1% (0.4%) of other violence against the person offences involved firearms in 2006/07 the 3,690 offences recorded representing a 22% decrease from 2005/06.
  
  
• Firearms were used in 58 homicides, 9 offences (or 18%) more than the 49 recorded in 2005/06. In addition, 3 homicides involving the use of air weapons were recorded in 2006/07, making a total of 61 firearms homicides (including air weapons) for the period.
  
  
• There were 3,891 firearm robberies in 2006/07, a 4% decrease from the previous year. Firearms were used in just under 4% (3.8%) of all robbery offences recorded by police.
  
  
• Handguns were used in 4,144 offences during 2006/07, 11% (or 527 offences) fewer than in 2005/06. Shotguns were used in 608 offences, a 5% decrease from the previous year.
  
  
• There were 413 firearm offences that resulted in serious injury in 2006/07, a 13% decrease over 2005/06. The number of slight injuries decreased by 23% to 2,528 from 2005/06. 41% of these slight injuries were caused by imitation weapons (some of which fire plastic pellets).
  
  
• Imitation weapons were used in 2,493 offences in 2006/07, 24% or 782 offences fewer than in the previous year after substantial increases since 1999/00. BB guns/ soft air weapons accounted for four fifths (83%) of these offences.
  

Further analysis of 2006/07 firearm offences will be published when full data is available early in 2008.

Use of weapons in violent incidents

It is currently not possible to identify offences involving the use of weapons other than firearms from national police recorded crime statistics. Figures for serious wounding involving knives and other sharp instruments from 2007/08 onwards will be presented in future volumes.

Weapons were used in 24% of all BCS violent crimes in 2006/07 a similar proportion to 2005/06 BCS (2%, the apparent difference is not statistically significant).

The most common types of weapons used were knives (used in 7% of all BCS incidents of violence), hitting implements (6%), and glass or bottles (5%). The use of different types of weapons has remained similar between 2005/06 and 2006/07 BCS.

Source: Home Office Statistical Bulletin: Crime in England and Wales 2006-07 (published)