Crime rates remain steady as new strategy launched

Young people are being targeted in a new crime strategy, unveiled this week by home secretary Jacqui Smith.

The news comes as the latest figures from the British Crime Survey (BCS) show that overall crime rates remained at the same level in England and Wales over the past year.

The risk of being a victim of crime increased by 1% however, while reported incidents of vandalism shot up by 10%. Remaining unchanged were domestic burglary rates and vehicle thefts.
Violence against people fell by 1%—the first fall in that category in eight years—and the number of police recorded crimes involving firearms dropped by 13%.

Focusing on early intervention, including forging closer links between schools and the police, the strategy, Cutting Crime: A New Partnership 2008–11, also includes plans for UK citizens to be able to look at police crime data in their area on the internet from July next year.

Graham Robb, interim chair of the Youth Justice Board (YSB), says: “The YSB supports the aims and objectives of the strategy and is particularly keen to see such a strong focus on prevention and restorative work.
“There is now an established framework for delivering effective prevention programmes across the youth justice system and we welcome this renewed focus, which it is hoped will support continuing success.

“The Youth Justice Board has worked hard to encourage collaboration between communities and partners, which it recognises is central to tackling youth crime—another area given fresh emphasis in the crime strategy.”
Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King’s College London, points out that the more the government has spent on criminal justice and the deeper their reforms have gone, the smaller has been the fall in the official crime rate.

He says: “This raises serious questions about the prudence of the record criminal justice expenditure of recent years. It also brings into question the reliance the government has placed in finding criminal justice solutions to what are far more complex, deep-rooted social problems.”