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Posts tagged violent crime
Homicide Victimization in the United States, 2023

By Lizabeth Remrey

In 2023, there were an estimated 19,800 homicide victimizations in the United States, a rate of 5.9 homicides per 100,000 persons (figure 1). This was lower than the estimated 22,240 victimizations (6.7 per 100,000) in 2022 but higher than the 16,670 victimizations (5.0 per 100,000) in 2019. (See appendix table 1 for state estimates.) Homicide refers to the offenses of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter and is defined as “the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another.”1 Findings in this report are based on the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ and FBI’s National IncidentBased Reporting System (NIBRS) Estimation Program and the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR).

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics , 2025. 23p.

Knife Crime Statistics: England and Wales

By Grahame Allen, Helen Wong

Knife-related crime (knife crime) is a crime involving an object with a blade or sharp instrument. Knife crime data is published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), government departments, police forces and the NHS. This briefing focuses on knife crime statistics for England and Wales. Some of the statistics go up to March 2024, whereas others only go up to March 2023. Further information on knife crime in England and Wales: possession offences, rules for retailers and efforts to prevent serious violence can be found in the Library briefing: Knives, offensive weapons and serious violence

Offences involving a knife The ONS publishes data on crimes recorded by police involving a knife or sharp instrument for a selection of serious violent offences. In the year ending March 2024, there were around 50,500 offences involving a sharp instrument in England and Wales (excluding Greater Manchester). This was 4.4% higher than in 2022/23 and 2.8% lower than in 2019/20.

Homicide offences In the year ending March 2023, Home Office data shows there were 244 homicides (the killing of one person by another) using a sharp instrument, including knives and broken bottles. This meant sharp instruments were used in 41% of the 594 homicides that occurred in England and Wales in 2022/23. Knife crime by police force area ONS data shows that in 2023/24, West Midlands Police recorded the highest rate of 178 offences per 100,000 population. In contrast, Dyfed-Powys Police recorded the lowest rate of 29 offences per 100,000 population. Proven offences and offenders Sentencing statistics from the Ministry of Justice show that in the year ending March 2023, there were almost 18,500 cautions and convictions made for possession of a knife or offensive weapon. Juveniles (aged 10 to 17) were the offenders in around 17.3% of cases. Hospital admissions Police and courts crime data depends on offences being reported to the authorities; this won’t capture all instances of knife crime because some offences may not be reported. It is therefore useful to supplement this information with alternative sources such as NHS hospital data. Data from NHS Digital shows there were 3,900 “hospital episodes” recorded in English hospitals in 2023/24 due to assault by a sharp object. This was a 3.3% increase compared 2022/23, and a 7% increase compared to 2014/15. Scotland and Northern Ireland The data above are for England and Wales. Data for Scotland on the number of crimes involving the possession of an article with a blade or point can be found in table A8 of the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2023-24 publication. Table 7 of Homicide in Scotland 2023-24 shows the victims of homicide by main method of killing, including those where a sharp instrument was used.

Statistics on knife crime in Northern Ireland can be found in the latest Police Recorded Crime Statistics Monthly update from the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

London: House of Commons Library, 2025. 30p.

Knives, Offensive Weapons and Serious Violence

By William Downs

The Labour government has committed to halving knife crime in a decade.

This briefing provides an overview of legislation concerning knives and offensive weapons, and the approaches taken by the police and other agencies to prevent serious violence in England and Wales.

What are knife crime offences? It is a criminal offence to possess any knife or other bladed article in a public place, under section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. It is also a criminal offence to have an “offensive weapon” in any public place, under section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953. Both offences carry maximum penalties of up to four years’ imprisonment. It is a defence for someone to prove they have possessed a knife, bladed article or offensive weapon with “good reason or lawful authority”, though the legislation does not provide examples of what this means in practice. A court determines whether the explanation provided by a defendant amounts to lawful authority or reasonable excuse based on the specific circumstances of a case. It is also a criminal offence to possess any prohibited weapon under section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (as amended by the Offensive Weapons Act 2019). Prohibited weapons cannot be possessed anywhere, even in private, and are also illegal to hire, lend or manufacture. Like other possession offences, the maximum penalty is four years’ imprisonment. There are currently 20 prohibited weapons listed in secondary legislation under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988, including a range of knives, bladed articles and other weapons. Under section 141(2) of the 1988 act, the government can introduce secondary legislation to add further weapons to this list. In 2024, the government added a new definition of “zombie-style” knives and machetes to the list, and launched a consultation on adding “ninja swords” to the list. Sentencing statistics from the Ministry of Justice shows that in the year ending March 2023, there were almost 18,500 cautions and convictions made for possession of a knife or offensive weapon. Juveniles (aged 10-17) were the offenders in around 17.3% of cases. Further data for England and Wales related to knife-related offences can be found in the Library briefing: Knife Crime Statistics: England and Wales.

London: House of Commons Library, 2025. 41p.

Historical Slavery Predicts Contemporary Violent Crime

By Moamen Gouda and Anouk S. Rigterink

This study investigates the long-term relationship between slavery and violent crime in the USA. Although qualitative evidence suggests that slavery perpetuated violence, there has been no largeN study supporting this claim. Using county-level data, we find that the percentage of slaves in the population in 1860 is linked with violent crime in 2000. This result is specific to violent crime, robust to instrumenting for slavery and varying the approach to missing crime data, and not driven by biased crime reporting. Investigating the theoretical mechanisms driving these results, we find that historical slavery affects inequality (like Bertocchi and Dimico, 2014), white Americans’ political attitudes towards race (like Acharya et al., 2016b) and black American’s political attitudes – in opposite directions. Results suggest that inequality and black American’s political attitudes mediate the observed effect on violence.

CESifo Working Paper Series No. 11515, Dec 2024, 50 pages

Does Weather Make People Kill Each Other: Correlation Between Weather Variables and Crime in Multiple Cities

By Jai Gupta

This article aims to explore the relationship between weather and crime by answering the question: To what extent does the weather in cities with varying year-round temperatures have different relationships with both property and violent crime? The current literature has found a significant correlation between the increase in outside temperature with the increase in crime. However, this relationship has not been compared between warm and cold cities with relatively similar city variables, such as demographics, poverty rates, and others. The researcher performed a quantitative, correlational, ex post facto study to address this gap in the literature. The researcher examined three weather variables: average average temperature, average high temperature, and average low temperature across six cities. These six cities were split into three pairs, each pair having a warm and cold city. The researcher found four principle findings: cities with colder year-round temperatures had a more significant correlation between weather and crime; of the weather variables examined, the average low temperature had the strongest relationship with crimes across all cities; between violent and property crime, property crime had a stronger correlation with all weather variables on average; and lastly, as temperature increases across all weather variables, crime, on average, also increased. While more research should be conducted, these findings hope to serve local policy makers and law enforcement on better predicting crime.

Unpublished paper,  (April 30, 2024).

Americans’ Experiences With Local Crime News. Most say they are interested in several types of local crime coverage, but far fewer say it’s easy to find

BY Kirsten Eddy, Michael Lipka, Katerina Eva Matsa, Naomi Forman-Katz, Sarah Naseer, Christopher St. Aubin and Elisa Shearer

The more news about crime that Americans receive, the more likely they are to be concerned, angry or feel personally at risk, but large numbers of people are dissatisfied with the local crime news they get and just as many people get information about crime trends from people they know as from local news outlets, a new Pew Research Center report from the Pew-Knight Initiative has found.

The report, based on a survey in January of more than 5,000 randomly selected adults, found there is little difference between Republicans and Democrats in how they consume local crime information and how concerned they are about it, but Republicans are more likely than Democrats to view violent crime as a very big problem for the country as a whole, the study found.

While most respondents expressed interest in learning the details of crimes, tips about how to stay safe, and broader patterns in local crime, few of those who were interested said it is easy to find news and information about each topic

Washington, DC: Pew Research Center 2024, 47p.

VIIOLENCE IN AMERICA VOL.2. PROTEST, REBELLION, REFORM.

MAY CONTAIN MARKUP

EDIYED BY TED ROBERT GURR

VIIOLENCE IN AMERICA VOL.2. PROTEST, REBELLION, REFORM dives deep into the complex tapestry of societal upheaval within the United States. This compelling volume explores the multifaceted nature of violence in various forms, from protests to rebellions, and the calls for reform that echo through the nation. Through a collection of thought-provoking essays and analytical pieces, this book sheds light on the struggles, triumphs, and challenges that define contemporary American society. A must-read for those seeking a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape of dissent and transformation in the United States.

NEWBURY PARK. SAGE. 1989. 372p.

ISLANDS IN THE STREET: Gangs and American Urban Society

MAY CONTAIN MARKUP

By MARTÍN SÁNCHEZ JANKOWSKI

The overall goal of the research in this book was to understand gang phenomenon in the United States. In order to accomplish this goal, the author investigated gangs in different cities in order to understand what was similar in the way all gangs behaved and what was idiosyncratic to certain gangs. The research for this book took place over ten years and five months from 1978 to 1989 and will give the reader a comprehensive overview of gang behavior in the United States in that time period. 

Berkeley. U.C. Press. 1991. 388p.

CRIME CULTURE & VIOLENCE Understanding How Masculinity and Identity Shapes Offending

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By Katie Seidler

From prison interviews with violent offenders and a wealth of experience and research, psychologist Dr Katie Seidler explores the complex interaction between crime and culture. Featuring the voices of the offenders themselves, 15 convicted adult male violent offenders from various ethnic cultural communities explain their understanding, motivations and rationalisations for their actions and how these relate to questions of identity, community and responsibility within their cultural experience and values. In challenging current criminological theory, Dr Seidler suggests that offenders from group-oriented (collectivist) cultures offend for group-oriented reasons, whereas those from cultures prioritising individualism offend for individual reasons. This more nuanced understanding of crime and criminals within the context of culture adds significantly both to criminological theory, as well as providing suggestions for improvements to policing and offender management and rehabilitation within the criminal justice system.

Australian Academic Press, 2010

The impact of changes to liquor licensing policy on violent crime in NSW, 2000-2019

By  Ziyang Lyua, Suzanne Poyntonb and Scott A. Sissona

AIM To quantify the effects of individual liquor licensing policies introduced in New South Wales (NSW) over the last decade on rates of violent crime. METHOD: The effects of individual state-wide policies on non-domestic assaults in NSW and additional local policies in the Sydney Central Business District Entertainment Precinct (CBD) and the Kings Cross Entertainment Precinct (KCP) from 2000 to 2019 were quantified using time series intervention models. We used a vector auto regression (VAR) model to create counterfactual datasets. These datasets were derived from proxy data outside the study area and helped predict potential assault outcomes without the policy implementation. RESULTS: The liquor licensing policies introduced by the NSW Government between 2008 and 2018 contributed to a significant decline in non-domestic assaults, both in Sydney and across NSW. By the end of 2019, non-domestic assaults had reduced by an estimated 19% in NSW, 45% in the Sydney CBD, and 84% in the KCP. Policies restricting late night (or 24-hour) trading of licensed premises and those targeting enforcement toward the highest risk venues contributed most to these declines. CONCLUSION: This research adds to the mounting evidence that restricting trading hours can substantially reduce the risks associated with acute alcohol intoxication and can be a cost-effective crime reduction strategy when combined with enforcement that targets the small number of premises that account for most of the harm.

(Crime and Justice Bulletin No. 263). 

Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. , 2023. 27p.

Murder-and-Extremism-in-the-United-States-in-2023

By The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism

Every year, individuals with ties to different extreme causes and movements kill people in the United States; the ADL Center on Extremism (COE) tracks these murders. Extremists regularly commit murders in the service of their ideology, to further a group or gang they may belong to, or even while engaging in traditional, non-ideological criminal activities.

In 2023, domestic extremists killed at least 17 people in the U.S., in seven separate incidents. This represents a sharp decrease from the 27 extremist-related murders ADL has documented for 2022—which itself was a decrease from the 35 identified in 2021. It continues a trend of fewer extremist-related killings after a five-year span of 47-79 extremist-related murders per year (2015-2019). One reason for the trend is the decrease in recent years of extremist-related killings by domestic Islamist extremists and left-wing extremists.

The 2023 murder totals include two extremist-related shootings sprees, both by white supremacists, which together accounted for 11 of the 17 deaths. A third shooting spree, also by an apparent white supremacist, wounded several people but luckily did not result in fatalities.

All the extremist-related murders in 2023 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds, with 15 of the 17 killings involving perpetrators or accomplices with white supremacist connections. This is the second year in a row that right-wing extremists have been connected to all identified extremist-related killings.

Two of the incidents from 2023 involved women playing some role in the killing or its aftermath. This report includes a special section that examines the role played by women in deadly extremist violence in the United States by analyzing 50 incidents from the past 20 years in which women were involved in some fashion in extremist-related killings

New York: ADL, 2024. 36p.

  A Better Path Forward for Criminal Justice: A Report 

By the Brookings-AEI Working Group on Criminal Justice Reform

U.S. criminal justice figures continue to make us numb, elected officials and citizens alike. Yes, we know the U.S. incarcerates more people per capita than any other country in the world. Yes, we know that when we rank the per capita rate of incarcerations, the U.S. is followed closely by countries like El Salvador and Turkmenistan. We know that our recidivism rates are too high, and that we police our racial/ethnic minority communities too much and too often with tragic results. We know our fellow citizens, mainly people of color, living in those communities continue to suffer from higher rates of crime and police violence. And, lastly, we know these conditions prevail even though U.S. crime rates have fallen to 50-year lows (even considering the recent COVID-era surge) making America about as safe as it was in the 1950s. It is almost as if over policing, prosecution, and imprisonment are habits that the United States just cannot break. 

For two decades now, there has been a bipartisan effort to tackle these systemic problems. Action by President George W. Bush in the mid-2000s to foster improved reentry pathways for men and women returning from prison opened the door to the passage of the bipartisan Second Chance Act and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment in programs designed to reform numerous aspects of the criminal justice system including mandatory minimum sentences and felony hiring initiatives. President Barack Obama expanded and accelerated these initiatives adding his own programs including  Banning the Box, presidential commissions on 21st century policing and mass incarceration, as well as pilot programs to reinstitute access to Pell Grants for prisoners. Just last year, President Trump signed the First Step Act beginning the process of reforming sentencing practices and providing funding for training and vocational education for incarcerated people to be more prepared for the labor market after prison. And now President Joe Biden has promised to accelerate criminal justice policy with an eye toward reforming the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, of which he was a principle author, to reduce crime and incarceration. By slow and steady steps, we are moving away from “tough on crime” policies that created the world’s largest prison population and one of its costliest and, from the perspective of rehabilitation and recidivism, most ineffective criminal justice systems. George Floyd’s death at the hands of police last spring and the frequent, though less-noticed, events like it in other American cities, towns, and rural areas, has added new urgency and momentum to the drive to reform our criminal justice system. Unfortunately, the debate has too often collapsed into an unhelpful binary: “support the blue” or “abolish the police.” Either of these poles would tend to have a negative impact on the very communities who have suffered disproportionately under our current criminal justice and law enforcement policies. Excessive policing and use of force, on one hand, and less public safety and social service resources on the other, can both be detrimental to communities that are exposed to high levels of criminal activity and violence. We must find a path of genuine reform, even transformation, that fosters safer, more peaceful, and more resilient communities.   

This volume is a “down payment” on the policy debate America needs right now to continue moving toward a criminal justice system—police, courts, prison, reentry, community supervision—that is focused on the safety, health, and well-being of communities rather than on maintaining a harsh, semi-militarized revolving door system from which, for too many, there is often no escape. The essays in this volume are intended to provide policymakers in Congress and the Biden Administration with research-grounded guidance and insight on core issues and strategies that can sustain bipartisan support for critically needed criminal justice reforms. Our authors come from a broad spectrum of domains and policy perspectives. In fact, most chapters paired scholars, practitioners, and thought leaders from different disciplines and political ideologies. In this regard, each of their chapters concisely summarize the state of research on a given topic and offer bipartisan recommendations for short-, medium- and long-term reforms that will move each of the key sectors of the criminal justice system toward a more humane and effective footing.

Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2021. 95p.

Prior contact with the criminal justice system among people who fatally overdosed on illicit drugs in Surrey and in British Columbia, 2011 to 2016

By Shannon Brennan and Benjamin Mazowita

 Between 2011 and 2016, 2,362 people in British Columbia had a fatal overdose from illicit drugs, with 332 occurring in Surrey specifically. The majority of individuals who died of an illicit drug overdose in British Columbia (66%) and specifically in the City of Surrey (64%) had no contact with police in the 24 months preceding their overdose death. For the purposes of this study, a contact with the police is defined as an official intervention, where the individual was identified by police as a person accused of a criminal incident.  Overall, most of the decedents (66%) held some form of employment in at least one of the five years preceding their overdose death, regardless of any contact with police. That said, decedents who had a formal contact with the police were less likely to have experienced consistent employment over the 5 years. One in five (20%) decedents who had contact with police were employed in each of the 5 years prior to their fatal overdose, compared to 29% of decedents who did not have contact.  More than two-thirds (68%) of decedents who had contact with police had also received social assistance benefits in the 5 years prior to their death, a proportion that was significantly higher than their counterparts who had no contact with police (55%).  In general, most decedents were not hospitalized in the year before their death. This held true for both those who had contact with police (72%) and those who did not (75%). The remaining one in four decedents were hospitalized at least once in the year preceding their death. The most common reasons for hospitalization among decedents in the year before their death besides opioid poisonings were in connection to substance use related disorders and mental health conditions.  While the majority of decedents never came into contact with police, among those who did (34%), many did so multiple times. Overall, 15% of decedents in British Columbia and 16% of decedents in the City of Surrey had three or more formal contacts with police in the 24 months preceding their overdose death.  Overall, among decedents who had a contact with police, 33% in British Columbia (and 24% in the City of Surrey) had a fatal overdose in the 90 days following their last contact with police. These findings indicate the need for timely interventions.  The majority of decedents who came into contact with police prior to their fatal overdose did so for a non-violent crime: 83% of police contacts were for non-violent offences whereas the remaining 17% involved violent offences. Shoplifting of items valued at $5,000 or under was the most common reason decedents came into contact with police in the 24 months prior to their death. Aside from property offences and, more specifically, shoplifting, offences against the administration of justice were also among the most common reasons decedents came into contact with police. These offences were also highly represented among the decedent cohort, relative to the province as a whole.  In line with their police interactions, most of the decedents who appeared in a criminal court within the 2 years preceding their overdose death did so in relation to property offences and offences against the administration of justice. Specifically, cases involving theft, breach of probation and failure to comply with an order were among the most prevalent

Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2019. 18p.

Violence in the Balkans

By Anna-Maria Getoš Kalac.

First Findings from the Balkan Homicide Study.The first volume using original empirical data from the Balkan Homicide study. Performs analysis from 3000 case files from 6 Balkans countries. Addresses prosecution case files as well as judicial case files, enabling methodological and phenomenological investigation into the nature of (lethal) violence in the Balkans.

Cham: Springer, 2021. 124p.

Murder in America: a history

By Roger Lane.

This book is a history of criminal homicide, or murder, in America. Murder is one of the two most common forms of intentional homicide, defined simply as the killing of one human being by another; the other is war. The third, capital punishment, is linked to both; death may be decreed either for failing to kill when a society demands it or for killing when a society forbids it. All three forms are linked in other, sometimes surprising ways. But while war has been a main—perhaps the main— subject of traditional history, historians have only newly turned their attention to criminal homicide.

Columbus, OH: Ohio State University, 1997. 399p.

The Concept And Measurement Of Violence Against Women And Men

By Sylvia Walby, Jude Towers, Susie Balderston, Consuelo Corradi, Brian Francis, Markku Heiskanen, Karin Helweg-Larsen, Lut Mergaert, Philippa Olive, Emma Palmer, Heidi Stöckl and Sofia Strid.

“Lethal violence is enormous. There are nearly half a million (437,000) intentional homicides globally each year. Lethal violence is gendered. Globally, 95% of perpetrators of intentional homicide are male. Every year, intimate partners or family members perpetrate nearly 64,000 intentional homicides; two thirds of victims are female. Half the intentional homicides of women are perpetrated by an intimate partner or other family members, compared to 6% of intentional homicides of men.“

Policy Press (2017) 193 pages.