Last week’s figures reveal that rape cases in England and Wales rose to an all-time high, while reports of sex crimes increased by a record number.
According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 61.158 rapes in the period June to June.
It was also the largest ever annual record and contained 17,285 offenses between April and June, which is also the highest quarterly number.
Also, there was a 8% increase in sexual offence rates over last year (164763) during the twelve-months to June.
This is due to the 48,553 highest recorded quarterly number (48.553) during the three-month period 2021. Police recorded 37% of all sexual crimes as rape.
Nick Stripe is the ONS’ head of crime statistics. He stated that the ONS’s police records show an ‘important increase in sexual offenses and rapes recorded during the most recent quarter of April through June 2021’. However, he cautioned against interpreting these data.
He stated that victims are more likely to report crimes than they were before lockdowns became easier.
Police recorded 846.235 domestic abuse related offences, not including fraud crimes, for the twelve-month period. This is 6% more than the 813.958 offenses in the preceding year.
The 687328 domestic abuse-related violence offences were 7 percentage points higher than the previous year.
According to the ONS, it’s ‘difficult’ to assess domestic abuse levels in the country using data from police. This is due in part to changes in how crimes are reported. Therefore, ‘we can’t conclude if there’s been an increase of domestic abuse victims’.
The report stated that data from victim services suggested that domestic abuse might have become more intense during times of national lockdown, and victims may not be able to seek support safely under such conditions.
According to the ONS, domestic abuse-related crime and sexual offenses recorded by police “do not give a reliable measure for trends in these kinds of crimes” as police record practices have improved and victims are more likely to report.
“The numbers do however provide a good measurement of the crime-related police demand.”