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Murder rate at lowest for 20 years•
Overall rate in England and Wales remains stable
• Burglary, fraud and shoplifting all rise
The murder rate in England and Wales has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years, with 648 homicides recorded in 2008/09 – 136 fewer than the year before. Home Office statisticians said the drop was "not a blip".
Annual crime figures published yesterday show the number of murders and manslaughters and infanticides fell to a level not seen since 1989.
The crime figures also show that the recession has so far had a less than expected impact on the underlying crime rate, although domestic burglary has risen by 1% in the past year, fraud – including credit card and online fraud – has risen by 5% and shoplifting has increased by 10%.
But the overall crime rate in England and Wales in the 12 months to March 2009 is officially declared to have remained stable with an estimated 10.7m offences as measured by the British Crime Survey (BCS). Crime in England and Wales actually fell by 5% according to the less reliable police-recorded crime figures.
Alan Travis on the crime figures Link to this audio Home Office statisticians asked yesterday about the impact of the recession on the crime figures said: "There may be pressures coming through. This recession is quite different from the last, which happened at a time of increases in crime. This is one where crime is falling."
It had been expected that domestic burglary, which rose by 4% during the calender year 2008, would continue to rise but the 1% increase recorded in this set of figures implies that the economic slowdown is not having the expected effect on the underlying crime rate.
Some individual categories of crime, such as credit card and online fraud are showing increases. But an apparent 25% surge in personal thefts, including pickpocketing and "stealth" theft, which show up on the BCS, is recorded as a 12% fall in the police-recorded crime figures, suggesting that the picture is unclear. The figures also show a 313% increase to 818 cases in frauds by company directors.
The reduction in the homicide rate, which includes murder, manslaughter and infanticide, means the annual total of 648 is now close to the 1979 figure of 629. Attempted murders also fell by 7% last year.
Overall violent crime was reported to have remained stable by the BCS and fell by 6% on the police figures. Violence against the person involving injury fell by 7% to 421,000 incidents.
There was a significant further fall in gun crime with the number of incidents involving a firearm down by 17% to 8,184. The number of fatal shootings fell from 53 to 38.
The Home Office chief statistician, David Blunt, said there was little change, however recorded, in overall levels of knife crime. This is despite recent government claims to have made progress in the most-affected areas. The number of fatal stabbings has fallen in the past from 270 to 252 but attempted murders involving a knife were up from 245 to 271. Robberies involving knives were down 2% from 17,058 to 16,701.
Credit card fraud, particularly involving online shopping transactions, continues to rise, with 2.8m fraudulent transactions recorded last year. "Card not present" fraud has soared by 243% since 2001 in line with the rapid growth of online shopping. To meet the problem banks are replacing online use of pin numbers and security codes with passwords.
The annual crime figures also show sex offences fell by 4% to 51,000 recorded offences, but within that figure rapes of women increased by 5% to 12,000 cases.
There was a slight rise in the risk of becoming a crime victim in England and Wales – 22% to 23%. This compares with the 40% risk when crime peaked in 1995.
Despite this sustained fall in crime in England and Wales over the past 14 years the majority of the public – 75% – believe crime is increasing nationally. People tend to have a more positive view of their own neighbourhood. Only about half think crime is on the increase in their area.
Public confidence in the police and local councils to tackle antisocial behaviour appears to have increased and is up from 45% to 49% even though the home secretary, Alan Johnson, said recently he believed the government had been "coasting" on the issue.
This is the last annual set of crime figures to be published before the general election. Johnson called them "encouraging" but the Conservatives claimed the government was covering up the scale of the problem of knife crime.
Overall rate in England and Wales remains stable
• Burglary, fraud and shoplifting all rise
The murder rate in England and Wales has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years, with 648 homicides recorded in 2008/09 – 136 fewer than the year before. Home Office statisticians said the drop was "not a blip".
Annual crime figures published yesterday show the number of murders and manslaughters and infanticides fell to a level not seen since 1989.
The crime figures also show that the recession has so far had a less than expected impact on the underlying crime rate, although domestic burglary has risen by 1% in the past year, fraud – including credit card and online fraud – has risen by 5% and shoplifting has increased by 10%.
But the overall crime rate in England and Wales in the 12 months to March 2009 is officially declared to have remained stable with an estimated 10.7m offences as measured by the British Crime Survey (BCS). Crime in England and Wales actually fell by 5% according to the less reliable police-recorded crime figures.
Alan Travis on the crime figures Link to this audio Home Office statisticians asked yesterday about the impact of the recession on the crime figures said: "There may be pressures coming through. This recession is quite different from the last, which happened at a time of increases in crime. This is one where crime is falling."
It had been expected that domestic burglary, which rose by 4% during the calender year 2008, would continue to rise but the 1% increase recorded in this set of figures implies that the economic slowdown is not having the expected effect on the underlying crime rate.
Some individual categories of crime, such as credit card and online fraud are showing increases. But an apparent 25% surge in personal thefts, including pickpocketing and "stealth" theft, which show up on the BCS, is recorded as a 12% fall in the police-recorded crime figures, suggesting that the picture is unclear. The figures also show a 313% increase to 818 cases in frauds by company directors.
The reduction in the homicide rate, which includes murder, manslaughter and infanticide, means the annual total of 648 is now close to the 1979 figure of 629. Attempted murders also fell by 7% last year.
Overall violent crime was reported to have remained stable by the BCS and fell by 6% on the police figures. Violence against the person involving injury fell by 7% to 421,000 incidents.
There was a significant further fall in gun crime with the number of incidents involving a firearm down by 17% to 8,184. The number of fatal shootings fell from 53 to 38.
The Home Office chief statistician, David Blunt, said there was little change, however recorded, in overall levels of knife crime. This is despite recent government claims to have made progress in the most-affected areas. The number of fatal stabbings has fallen in the past from 270 to 252 but attempted murders involving a knife were up from 245 to 271. Robberies involving knives were down 2% from 17,058 to 16,701.
Credit card fraud, particularly involving online shopping transactions, continues to rise, with 2.8m fraudulent transactions recorded last year. "Card not present" fraud has soared by 243% since 2001 in line with the rapid growth of online shopping. To meet the problem banks are replacing online use of pin numbers and security codes with passwords.
The annual crime figures also show sex offences fell by 4% to 51,000 recorded offences, but within that figure rapes of women increased by 5% to 12,000 cases.
There was a slight rise in the risk of becoming a crime victim in England and Wales – 22% to 23%. This compares with the 40% risk when crime peaked in 1995.
Despite this sustained fall in crime in England and Wales over the past 14 years the majority of the public – 75% – believe crime is increasing nationally. People tend to have a more positive view of their own neighbourhood. Only about half think crime is on the increase in their area.
Public confidence in the police and local councils to tackle antisocial behaviour appears to have increased and is up from 45% to 49% even though the home secretary, Alan Johnson, said recently he believed the government had been "coasting" on the issue.
This is the last annual set of crime figures to be published before the general election. Johnson called them "encouraging" but the Conservatives claimed the government was covering up the scale of the problem of knife crime.
