Is violent crime increasing or decreasing? A new methodology to measure repeat attacks making visible the significance of gender and domestic relations

Sylvia Walby; Jude Towers; Brian Francis

doi:10.1093/bjc/azv131

Is violent crime increasing or decreasing? A new methodology to measure repeat attacks making visible the significance of gender and domestic relations

Sylvia Walby^*, Jude Towers, Brian Francis

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Law & Criminal Justice

Lancaster University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

126 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The fall in the rate of violent crime has stopped. This is a finding of an investigation using the Crime Survey for England and Wales, 1994-2014, and an improved methodology to include the experiences of high-frequency victims. The cap on the number of crimes included has been removed. We prevent overall volatility from rising by using three-year moving averages and regression techniques that take account of all the data points rather than point to point analysis. The difference between our findings and official statistics is driven by violent crime committed against women and by domestic perpetrators. The timing of the turning point in the trajectory of violent crime corresponds with the economic crisis in 2008/09.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1203-1234
Number of pages	32
Journal	British Journal of Criminology
Volume	56
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azv131 https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azv131
Publication status	Published - 30 Dec 2015

Keywords

Crime
Crime Survey for England and Wales
Domestic violence
Gender
High-frequency victims
Violence

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

Cite this

@article{9f31084a7dcf42ca9729ea7b0a102267,

title = "Is violent crime increasing or decreasing? A new methodology to measure repeat attacks making visible the significance of gender and domestic relations",

abstract = "The fall in the rate of violent crime has stopped. This is a finding of an investigation using the Crime Survey for England and Wales, 1994-2014, and an improved methodology to include the experiences of high-frequency victims. The cap on the number of crimes included has been removed. We prevent overall volatility from rising by using three-year moving averages and regression techniques that take account of all the data points rather than point to point analysis. The difference between our findings and official statistics is driven by violent crime committed against women and by domestic perpetrators. The timing of the turning point in the trajectory of violent crime corresponds with the economic crisis in 2008/09.",

keywords = "Crime, Crime Survey for England and Wales, Domestic violence, Gender, High-frequency victims, Violence",

author = "Sylvia Walby and Jude Towers and Brian Francis",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, grant number ES/K002899/1, as part of the Secondary Data Analysis Initiative. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press.",

year = "2015",

month = dec,

day = "30",

doi = "10.1093/bjc/azv131",

language = "English",

volume = "56",

pages = "1203--1234",

journal = "British Journal of Criminology",

issn = "0007-0955",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "6",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Is violent crime increasing or decreasing? A new methodology to measure repeat attacks making visible the significance of gender and domestic relations

AU - Walby, Sylvia

AU - Towers, Jude

AU - Francis, Brian

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, grant number ES/K002899/1, as part of the Secondary Data Analysis Initiative. Publisher Copyright: © 2015 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press.

PY - 2015/12/30

Y1 - 2015/12/30

N2 - The fall in the rate of violent crime has stopped. This is a finding of an investigation using the Crime Survey for England and Wales, 1994-2014, and an improved methodology to include the experiences of high-frequency victims. The cap on the number of crimes included has been removed. We prevent overall volatility from rising by using three-year moving averages and regression techniques that take account of all the data points rather than point to point analysis. The difference between our findings and official statistics is driven by violent crime committed against women and by domestic perpetrators. The timing of the turning point in the trajectory of violent crime corresponds with the economic crisis in 2008/09.

AB - The fall in the rate of violent crime has stopped. This is a finding of an investigation using the Crime Survey for England and Wales, 1994-2014, and an improved methodology to include the experiences of high-frequency victims. The cap on the number of crimes included has been removed. We prevent overall volatility from rising by using three-year moving averages and regression techniques that take account of all the data points rather than point to point analysis. The difference between our findings and official statistics is driven by violent crime committed against women and by domestic perpetrators. The timing of the turning point in the trajectory of violent crime corresponds with the economic crisis in 2008/09.

KW - Crime

KW - Crime Survey for England and Wales

KW - Domestic violence

KW - Gender

KW - High-frequency victims

KW - Violence

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85014148824&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85014148824&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/bjc/azv131

DO - 10.1093/bjc/azv131

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85014148824

SN - 0007-0955

VL - 56

SP - 1203

EP - 1234

JO - British Journal of Criminology

JF - British Journal of Criminology

IS - 6

ER -

Is violent crime increasing or decreasing? A new methodology to measure repeat attacks making visible the significance of gender and domestic relations

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this