1. Crime and punishment
Joan Garrod
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2. Crime and punishment
Crime figures for England and Wales come from two main sources:
The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)
Police recorded crime data
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the year ending March 2017 show that there were 5.9 million incidents of crime recorded by the CSEW, a 7% reduction on the previous year. However, if the new experimental statistics on crimes of fraud and computer misuse were included, the figure rose to an estimated 11 million.
The police recorded almost 5 million offences, representing an annual rise of 10%.
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3. Crime and punishment
Question What are some of the reasons for the differences in the crime figures between the CSEW and police recorded data? Identify as many as you can. John Flatley, an analyst with the ONS, writing about the rise in police recorded crime, said: ‘The latest figures show the largest annual rise in crimes recorded by the police in a decade. While ongoing improvements to recording practices are driving this volume rise, we believe actual increases in crime are also a factor in a number of categories.’ Remember that changes in how crimes are recorded can significantly affect the data. He also made the important point that some of the increases recorded by the police are in the low volume/high harm offences such as homicide and knife crime that the CSEW is not designed to measure. Remember that not all types of crime are included in the CSEW figures.
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4. Crime and punishment 1,240 27 588 13 652 14 129 3 3,324 - * 367 8 641
The following data from the CSEW show figures for certain types of crime for the year ending March 2017.
Offence Group
Number of incidents (000s)
Rate per 1,000 population
Violence
1,240 27
Violence with injury
588 13
Violence without injury
652 14
Robbery
129 3
Theft offences
3,324
- *
Theft from the person
367 8
Other theft of personal property
641
Fraud and computer misuse **
5,166
112
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5. Crime and punishment Notes on the table:
* It is not possible to give a rate for all theft offences as the CSEW rates for household offences are based on rates per household, and those for personal offences on rates per adult, and the two cannot be combined.
** Data on fraud and computer misuse are published as experimental statistics, which are in the testing phase and not yet fully developed.
Questions
Without looking back at the table, and ignoring crimes of fraud and computer misuse, state which type of crime had the highest incidence rate per thousand of the population.
Which groups of people do you think are most likely to be the victims of this type of crime? What are your reasons for saying this?
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6. Crime and punishment
The following slides provide information about levels of imprisonment and some of the characteristics of those imprisoned. All data are taken from the House of Commons Briefing Paper ‘UK Prison Population Statistics’published 20 April The average prison population has increased from just over 17,400 in 1900 to just over 85,300 in 2016, a five-fold increase. Question What reasons can you suggest for this? You might consider factors such as population size, levels and types of policing, technological and forensic advances, opportunities for crime and public attitudes to punishment.
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7. Gender
The number of male prisoners has always greatly exceeded that of females. In 1901, there were 152 male prisoners per 100,000 males in the population. At the end of 2016, this number had increased to 355.
In 1901, there were 27 female prisoners per 100,000 females. At the end of 2016, this number had decreased to 16.
Questions
Why should the rate of imprisonment be so much lower for females than males?
What explanations might there be for the fall in the rate of female imprisonment since the 1900s?
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8. Type of offence
The chart below shows the types of offence for the years 2000, 2005, 2010 and In each of these years, the most common offence was violence against the person (VATP), with drug offences usually the second highest.
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9. Age profile of prisoners
The proportion of prisoners under the age of 20 has fallen from around 13% in 2005 to 6% at the end of The proportion of those aged 30–39 increased from 26% to 30% over the same period. The proportion of prisoners over the age of 40 has also increased.
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10. Ethnicity
The non-white prison population is over-represented. Non-whites account for 12% of the general population, but formed 25% of the prison population at the end of Question What reasons can you think of for the over-representation of non-whites in the prison population?
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11. Religion
At the end of 2016 just under half of prisoners were of a Christian faith, a decrease of 9.5% points since The proportion of Muslim prisoners had increased from 8% in 2002 to 15% in Muslims make up 4% of the general population aged 15+.
Questions
Why might the proportion of Christian prisoners have decreased since 2002?
Why might Muslim prisoners be over-represented in the prison population?
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12. Safety in prisons
Prisons are increasingly unsafe, for both prisoners and staff. In the 12 months to September 2016 there were just over 25,000 prisoner assaults within prisons, representing a 68% increase compared to September In 2006 there were roughly 190 assaults per thousand prisoners. In 2016 the rate had increased to just under 300. Suggested reasons for the increase include overcrowded prisons, staff shortages and the increasing availability of drugs inside prisons, some of which lead to violent tendencies.
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13. Reoffending rates
Levels of recidivism (reoffending) are quite high, particularly for those serving sentences of less than 4 years. The government website ‘Open Justice’ states that reducing reoffending is just as important a goal as punishment. It points out that equipping offenders for life after prison is one of the main challenges. It also says that preparing prisoners to find employment is a known way to reduce the likelihood of reoffending. Read the article by Gerry Czerniawski on prisoner education to see whether you think that the prison service is meeting this challenge.
Source: open.justice.gov.uk/reoffending
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