UK Crime Rate Rises Sharply as Cybercrime is Included
ONS: Crime Survey for England and Wales Field Trial. Field trial conducted between May and August 2015
The crime rate for England and Wales has doubled to more than 11.6m offences, according to the latest figures. The sharp rise in the headline figures is due to the inclusion of an estimated 5.1m online fraud incidents and 2.5m cybercrime offences for the first time.
Increase brought about by inclusion of new offences masks 8% fall in underlying rate in survey of people’s experience of crime. Separate police-recorded crime figures show a 5% increase in crime, including a 25% rise in violence against the person.
The crime survey for England and Wales, which is based on people’s experience of crime, shows that the underlying crime rate, excluding cybercrime, continued to fall, by 8% to an estimated 6.5m offences in the 12 months to June.
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Separate police-recorded figures show a 5% increase in crime, including a 25% increase in violence against the person. Sexual offences including rape rose by 41% over the past year, which police say is indicative of a greater willingness of victims to report such crimes. The growth in sexual offences recorded by the police includes an increase of 10,000 in reported rapes and a 20,000 rise in reports of other sexual offences.
Statisticians said it reflects a change in police attitudes in the past 12 months, with officers now talking about “reports of rape” and no longer referring to “allegations of rape”. But they also point to crime survey evidence that shows the proportion of adults who report being a victim of sexual assault remains under 2%.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the publication of an official estimate of fraud and cybercrime alongside the crime survey of England and Wales follows growing concern that the rise in cybercrime “makes up” for the long-term fall in crime from a peak of 19m offences in 1995 to 6.5m offences by June.
The ONS head of crime, John Flatley, said: “It has been argued that crime has not actually fallen but changed, moving to newer forms of crime not captured by the survey. Clearly some crime has moved online but this should be seen in the context of the long-term fall in traditional crime.”
The first estimate shows that there were up to 5.1m incidents of online fraud involving 3.8 million victims in the past 12 months. Just over half involved some initial financial loss to the victims and more than 62% were compensated in full.
The addition of the online fraud offences to the crime survey figure of 6.5m offences leads to a headline figure of 11.6m estimated criminal incidents, compared with the 7m estimate for the year to June 2014.
An ONS field trial also estimated that there were 2.5m “computer misuse” incidents, where a victim’s computer is infected by a virus.
The statisticians said they had an open mind on whether to include these within the headline crime rate, as often such attacks are blocked by anti-virus protection and not experienced as a crime by the victim. But they do say that phishing and other attacks are offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and could be included.
The inclusion of these 2.5m cybercrime incidents brings the headline total in the official estimates to 14.1m, double the 7m estimated crimes in the year to June 2014.
Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: “It is remarkable that at a time when cybercrime is soaring and fraudsters are finding ever more inventive ways to get access to our personal details, our prime minister and his home secretary are seriously considering weakening encryption that allows our banks to keep our information secure.”
Guardian: http://bit.ly/1VVH7Zk
