Sexual offences hit record high in England and Wales

Sexual offences hit record high in England and Wales

Sexual offences in England and Wales have hit a new quarterly high figure, as rape figures are also the highest-ever the police have recorded, according to official statistics.

Lockdown restrictions affected the patterns of crime recorded, with an overall slight decline, sexual offences still rose by eight per cent during the 12-month period.

The report concluded that “rape accounted for 37% of all sexual offences recorded by the police.”

The report used findings ending in the year June 2021 and found the “highest ever recorded annual figure to date” totalling in 61,158 offences.

This increase was mainly driven by the last quarter – April to June 2021 – which had a reported 17,300 rape offences, compared with a quarterly average of between 12,000 and 15,000.

This also represents a 19 per cent rise from the previous quarter from January to March.

Nick Stripe, the head of crime statistics at the ONS has warned that these statistics should be taken with caution saying that recent social changes have made it more possibly for people to report incidents, writing on Twitter he said:

“Prior to the pandemic, the number of police recorded sexual offences was well below the number of victims estimated by the Crime Survey for England & Wales, with fewer than one in six victims of rape or assault by penetration reporting the crime to the police.”

“The rise could be due to an increase in victim reporting as lockdowns eased, an increase in the number of victims, or to an increase in victims’ willingness to report incidents, potentially as a result of high-profile cases and campaigns in recent times.”

There was also an increase in the number of domestic-abuse crimes, with almost 850,000, representing a six per cent rise.