Crime

A better understanding of the scale of domestic abuse during the pandemic

Categories: Crime, Data, Office for Statistics Regulation, Population, UK Statistics Authority
Pictured is a victim of domestic violence

The Office for National Statistics has been working to bring together data sources to provide the best understanding of the scale of domestic abuse, sexual offences and violence against women and girls. However, the impact of the pandemic on survey collection has meant a data gap in understanding the sheer prevalence of these crimes. The ONS has now published its first estimates of domestic abuse and sexual assault in two years. Meghan Elkin explains why a note of caution should be taken in interpreting these statistics.

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How the ONS crime figures help us to better understand the risks to children

Categories: Crime, ONS
A young boy is sitting on a swing set and looking at a shadow figure of a man or bully at a playground

In 2018 the Children’s Commissioner’s Office in England highlighted the need for better data on the numbers of children living in households where adult domestic abuse, mental ill-health or substance misuse may be present. Sophie Sanders explains how the Office for National Statistics has developed its first analysis to help better understand how the presence of these issues could impact on childhood vulnerability.

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What’s happened to crime during the pandemic? How ONS has responded to the measurement challenge

Categories: Coronavirus, Crime, Data, Office for National Statistics, ONS

Early data from police forces suggest crimes recorded in England and Wales have fallen since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.  For a wider overall picture of crime most users tend to look to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.   But the suspension of face-to-face interviewing has forced the ONS to modify this large household survey. In this post Billy Gazard explains what’s changed and what you need to be aware of in interpreting our next set of crime statistics.

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