Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences (Part of Crime Statistics)
Used as indicator
Data available on
Perpetrator
This statistical product does not collect information on Perpetrator
Incident
Incident
Overall violence – volume and comparison. Overall violence – trends. Overall violence – victim profile. Types of violence – homicide and attempted murder. Types of violence – violence with injury. Types of violence – offences involving firearms. Types of violence – offences involving knives and sharp instruments. Types of violence – domestic violence, sexual offences and intimate violence. Nature of violence – offenders and locations. Nature of violence – influence of alcohol and drugs. Nature of violence – emotional impact and seriousness. Violence against children aged 10 to 15. Background - intimate violence. Prevalence of intimate violence. Nature of sexual assault. Attitudes to sexual violence.
Criminal statistics on sexual violence
Criminal statistical data included
In section 1 (Overview) , there is a subsection on "Types of violence – domestic violence, sexual offences and intimate violence", based on police recorded crime. Moreover section 4 is on SECTION 4 – INTIMATE VIOLENCE, covering a Background on intimate violence; Prevalence of intimate violence; Nature of sexual assault and Attitudes to sexual violence. However this section includes headline findings from the 2011/12 self-completion module of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) on the extent of, and trends in, intimate violence among men and women aged 16 to 59 resident in households in England and Wales.
Characteristics
Reference period
Sometimes compared to data from for example 2004/2005.
Frequency of updating
Annualy (full report). Quarterly (N.of sex offenses)
Validation
Interview ONS: as a verification of data/police records it is triangulated with survey data. Moreover according to the ONS website: "National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.
Compilation
No information available
Quality assurance process
There has been a rise of 2/3 years in number of cases of sexual violence. However, this doesn’t marry with what survey data is showing. Rather this is a success in police, i.e. due to an increase of reporting of cases of sexual violence. To verify such incidents police data is triangulated with survey data. Moreover according to the ONS website: "National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference".
Accuracy
Mixed. Interview ONS: A strength of this statistical product is that it is based on police data on which there is a strong national drive pushing to record and report in a systematic way. The statistical product is limited in what it can tell you; For information on the nature of victims, age victims, relationships etc. the ONS relies more on survey data. Moreover, in terms of statistics on IPV, what could be improved is the consistency by police forces in flagging, as in some forces this seems out of line. There are no standard counting rules for IPV (although there are guidelines on domestic abuse).
Reliability
No information available
Timeliness
Limitations. Interview ONS: Timeliness of data coming in is quite slow, takes two years on average. or example stalking: while criminalized since November 2012, the ONS expects this data to appear in reports only in a year (march 2014).
Comparability
- Geographical
- Over time
- None
Not geographically as this data is regional (England and Wales). However, Northern Ireland has a comparable criminal justice system. Scottish criminal justice system is quite different, although less so in domestic/sexual violence than other areas.
Current developments
The police forces want to increase the number of people reporting sexual violence, however this might come across like a failure of the government if the rate of rape is increasing. Moreover due to the current economic crisis in the UK it is unlikely for improvements to be made in the infrastructure of data.
