ASC

Drug crime rises 21 per cent

28/04/06

Drug crime has risen by 21 per cent in a year, according to the latest quarterly figures from the Home Office says Lee Glendinning of the Times.

There has also been a rise in the number of robberies and sex offences, but total recorded crime levels remain stable, the latest statistics for England and Wales show.

The number of robberies committed between October and December last year was up 6 per cent on the same period a year earlier. Sex offences rose by 3 per cent, but the total recorded crime remained stable at 1,377,100 offences.

Violence against the person rose by 1 per cent although the most serious category in this class - such as homicides and serious woundings - fell by 12 per cent. Domestic burglary fell by 4 per cent and fraud and forgery by 22 per cent.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, who is under pressure to resign over the foreign prisoners fiasco, said that he was encouraged by the fact violent crime was stabilising but there was still too much.

While it is true that nearly half of all violent offences involve no injury, they may still be serious and traumatic for the victim.

That is why we are committed to continuing the progress we have made in recent years in driving down violent crime, including robbery.

He said the rise in recorded offences of robbery needed to be put in context as the figures were well below those for 2001/02 before the street crime initiative when robbery was at its height.

Separate figures from the British Crime Survey showed the risk of being a victim of crime, at 23 per cent, remained at its lowest since the survey began in 1981.

The survey also revealed the Government was not succeeding in its attempt to reduce fear of crime or concerns about anti-social behaviour, despite a series of high-profile campaigns.

The number of people who said they were very worried about violent crime rose from 16 per cent in 2004 to 17 per cent in 2005.

There were significant rises in those who felt noisy neighbours, rowdiness or drunkenness and teenagers hanging around on the streets were a big problem in their area. But those reporting problems with abandoned cars and rubbish - fell.

Acting director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London, Richard Garside, said public fear of crime and perception of some anti-social behaviour continues to rise.

Yet the Government claims that overall crime is falling and their anti-social behaviour strategy is a success.

This is a significant political problem, but it is a problem of the Government's own making.

None of their preferred measures of crime and anti-social behaviour come close to capturing the entire range of crime and disorder.