Last year it was gun crime, this year it is knife crime, and next year it will be blunt object crime. There is hardly a day that passes without a headline about another young man who has been stabbed, usually in south London. And this is not to be dismissed. It is a serious issue. Regardless of the overall statistics, which show violent crime to be quite low compared to, say, the early 1990s, the ...

Getting the numbers wrong seems to be becoming a habit among Conservatives. First we had those dodgy crime statistics, with the Conservatives claiming wrongly that violent crime had massively increased over the last decade. Today we discover the Conservatives have inflated tenfold the number of girls getting pregnant in deprived communities. What’s a

Tough on the causes of crime As far as crime is concerned the Conservatives walk on water. Throughout the ages the Tories have been viewed as the party of authority. This has not changed under the leadership of David Cameron despite his focus on the "causes of crime" rather than being "tough on crime"   If we look back

Home Office - This publication presents the most recent crime statistics from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime.

When it comes to crime, David Cameron is more concerned with headlines than policies. That's why he talks Britain down by deliberately misleading the public about crime figures even though his party has been censured by the Statistics Authority for doing this. The reality is the Conservatives have voted against Labour's measures to fight crime including opposing changes to the retention ...

The New Statesman’s George Eaton admonishes Chris Grayling repeating his ‘false claim that violent crime has risen dramatically under Labour.’ Eaton cites the British Crime Survey’s findings that violent crime has fallen by 41 percent since 1997. True, the BCS asserts that violent crime has fallen since 1997. However, changes in recording practice in 2002-03 mean that compa...

The New Statesman’s George Eaton admonishes Chris Grayling repeating his ‘false claim that violent crime has risen dramatically under Labour.’ Eaton cites the British Crime Survey’s findings that violent crime has fallen by 41 percent since 1997. True, the BCS asserts that violent crime has fallen since 1997. However, changes in recording practice in 2002-03 mean that compa...

When it comes to crime, David Cameron is more concerned with headlines than policies. That’s why he talks Britain down by deliberately misleading the public about crime figures even though his party has been censured by the Statistics Authority for doing this. The reality is the Conservatives have voted against Labour’s measures to fight crime including opposing changes to the retentio...

The saying “lies, damn lies, and statistics” has never run truer than now, with the Home Secretaries statement that a 22% rise in violent crime - such as serious assault, murder, attempted murder and manslaughter - still means that crime is going down. Why and how can Jacqui Smith make this claim? Because, apparently, “police forces

With the publication of annual statistics for 2007, the Government claims to have presided over ‘historic' falls in crime. The measurement they use for this is something called the British Crime Survey (BCS), which was introduced only in 1981 so the definition of historic is clearly somewhat flexible.Crime scene: statistics do not provide an accurate picture Over many years, ministers and official...