Violent Crime

Research
NEGATIVES (The telegraph) In 2007 overall, 5.4 million violent crimes were recorded in the UK more than ten a minute- second only to Sweden in Europe. Also violent crime had increased from 652,974 offences in 1998 to more than 1.15 million crimes in 2007 (The Guardian) Prison population has increased by 7,000 as a result of violent crime offences (Metro Newspaper) Rape calls up by 40% since Saville scandal These pieces of information can be of useful to us as we can use them to demonstrate the seriousness of violent crime and the effects of violent crime in our documentary. (Politifact.com) 2,000 crimes recorded per 100,000 of the population in the UK compared to 466 violent crimes per 100, 000 in the US. (UK Crime Stats) In June 2013 violent crime offences were at 57,233. However, in July 2013 4,373 more violent crime offences occurred as 61,606 violent crime offences were recorded. These statistics are very useful as it is official information that is very specific. Therefore if we used this in our documentary it adds more of a factual base to our documentary. Making it more realistic.

POSITIVES
(Wikipedia) The 2010/11 BCS showed overall violence was down by 47% on the level seen at its peak in 1995; representing nearly two million fewer violent crime offences per year. In 2010/11, 31 per 1000 people interviewed reported being a victim of violent crime. (Office for National Statistics) Focusing on the most serious violence the number of homicides for 2011/12 was 540 which was the lowest since 1989 (521) (BBC NEWS) The number of people treated in hospital in England and Wales after violent incidents fell by 14% in 2012. 267,291 people required care- 40,706 fewer than in 2011 according to a sample of 54 hospital units. Institute for Economics and peace found the violent crime rate was down by about one quarter from 1,225 per 100,000 people in 2003, to 933 in 2012. Reductions came despite 6% drop in the number of police officers per 100,000. These facts and stats could potentially be very useful as they are from trusted sources which means they are reliable. They could provide a good basis for an argument as they show that violent crime is reducing while some of the above information suggests otherwise in the Negatives section suggests otherwise.