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Crime statistics: An independent review

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorJulian Buchanan
Published date01 June 2007
Date01 June 2007
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/02645505070540020504
Subject MatterArticles
/tmp/tmp-18vKkRRWWHvTsH/input Research & reports 183
Crime statistics: An independent review
In 2006, Charles Clarke, who was then the Home Secretary, commissioned an
independent review of crime statistics. The review’s purpose was to make recom-
mendations on what changes should be made to the production and release of
crime statistics in order to increase public trust. The Review Group, led by Professor
Adrian Smith, found that public trust in crime statistics can be undermined by a
range of factors including: the way statistics are presented and sometimes perceived
to be at odds with the direct individual experiences of members of the public; the
way statistics are presented using categories or definitions that don’t accord with
public commonsense interpretations; the way conflicting statistics are presented
that appear to contradict each other; the lack of reporting of some significant
aspects of criminal activity and victims; the general perception that police and/or
government ministers interfere in the way crime statistics are produced and
presented. In order to restore public trust and confidence the Review Group have
made a number of recommendations in respect of the way crime statistics are
currently produced, communicated and used.
Key recommendations included that the Home Office should not just rely on
publishing national crime statistics, but should provide information relating to
crime at the local level, because crime can be very skewed in its geographical
distribution. A focus upon local data as opposed to a focus upon national data
was a key theme in the report. The report recommends that future investment in
strategies and technology to gather local crime information should become an
integral part of the development of neighbourhood policing teams which are held
to account by local neighbourhoods. It suggests that the Home Office needs to
make use of modern communication methods to develop a strategy for providing
local crime information that is useful and relevant. In order to work...

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