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Welcome to the Summer edition of the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice newsletter, which includes news on recent and upcoming releases and events, and updates on the work we have been doing in the last 6 months.
Look out for the next edition in Winter 2021.
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Measuring crime in the last year has been particularly challenging because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and government instructions to limit social contact. We have adapted both our data collection and the presentation of our statistics in response to the unfolding pandemic. In the last year we have:
- designed and set up the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) while face-to-face interviewing has been paused
- published a report on the comparability of TCSEW data with face-to-face Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) data
- set up a pilot study to explore the feasibility of using an address-based online survey for participant recruitment and online surveying
Over the coming year we will continue to face uncertainty around our ability to collect the data we need to measure crime as the coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold. We are engaging with our survey contractor and other survey organisations to help inform our decision and currently plan to return to face-to-face interviewing in October 2021.
To support our work transforming the CSEW, we are launching a series of commercial tenders over the coming weeks. If you are interested please follow this link to Crown Commercial Service’s Supplier Registration portal where you can register as a Supplier and receive further details.
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What's new in ONS Crime and Justice statistics?
Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2021
Patterns of crime in the year ending March 2021 have been significantly affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and government instructions to limit social contact. While there were decreases across a range of individual crime types, particularly theft offences, these were offset by rises in fraud and computer misuse offences, resulting in no change in overall levels of crime.
Comparability between the Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales and the face-to-face Crime Survey for England and Wales
The Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales (TCSEW) became operational on the 20 May 2020. It was a replacement for the face-to-face Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) which was suspended on the 17 March 2020 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It was set up with the intention of measuring the level of crime during the pandemic. As the pandemic has continued throughout the 2020/21 survey year, questions have been raised as to whether the year ending March 2021 TCSEW is comparable with estimates produced in earlier years by the face-to-face CSEW.
The report explores those factors which may have a bearing on the comparability of estimates between the TCSEW and the former CSEW. These include survey design, sample design, questionnaire changes and modal changes.
It concludes that the main measures of crime (numbers of incidents and prevalence rates in the previous 12 months) are broadly comparable, but some adjustments are needed. For more information see the report.
Perceptions of personal safety and experiences of harassment, Great Britain: 2 to 27 June 2021 – 24 August 2021
Perceptions of safety and experiences of harassment, by personal characteristics, based on the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN)
This is the first time that ONS has asked people about their feelings of personal safety when walking alone in a variety of public settings. Clear findings have revealed that men and women both feel less safe after dark with 81% of women feeling very or fairly unsafe after dark in a park or other open space compared with 39% of men, Disabled people reported feeling less safe than non-disabled adults across all settings even in the daytime.
Exploring the feasibility of a survey measuring child abuse in the UK: consultation response 23 July 2021
The ONS is assessing the feasibility of a survey measuring the current prevalence of child abuse in the UK. We published an article in January 2021 outlining our findings from phase one to date.
The aims of the feasibility study have been split into two phases:
Phase one: to carry out research and launch a public consultation gathering feedback and opinions from anyone with an interest in child protection and child protection policy, and to determine whether a survey could be successful.
Phase two: to design and test survey methodology and questions and conduct a pilot survey.
We invited feedback from stakeholders to understand their needs and perspectives. We received 91 consultation responses with strong support overall to carry this work forward.
More information on the results of the consultation can be found in the report above.
Sexual offences in England and Wales overview: year ending March 2020
Findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that 1.8% of adults aged 16 to 74 years experienced sexual assault in the year ending March 2020. The number of sexual offences recorded by police over the same period, decreased by 0.7% compared to the previous year.
This release brings together data on sexual offences across separate articles from the Crime Survey for England and Wales and police recorded crime from the Home Office.
Detailed tables – violent crime
Homicide in England and Wales: appendix tables
Findings from the analyses based on the Homicide Index recorded by the Home Office.
The nature of violent crime: appendix tables
Violent crime numbers, prevalence and location using annual data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, Home Office Data Hub, and police recorded crime.
Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables
Data tables relating to offences involving weapons as recorded by police and hospital episode statistics.
Children’s online behaviour in England and Wales: year ending March 2020
The data in this bulletin is from the 10- to 15-year olds’ Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) year ending March 2020 and was collected prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Although being online brings huge benefits to children, there are also significant risks.
An estimated 1 in 50 children (2%) said that they spoke to or messaged someone online in the previous 12 months who they thought was their age but later found out were much older.
This report looks at children’s engagement in online activities and includes: the frequency and nature of online use; prevalence of speaking to or meeting someone online; method of contact; sending and receiving sexual messages; and online security.
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Children’s survey stakeholder events
As part of our work to transform the crime survey, we are reviewing the content and approach of the 10-15s children’s survey. We are planning to hold stakeholder events in October where we will outline the aims of the review, recap the existing survey content, and launch a questionnaire to gather your views and requirements. If you’d like to be involved, please email us at crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk to be added to the mailing list.
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