Residential Burglary: The Limits of Prevention

By Stuart Winchester and Hilary Jackson

Residential burglary is generally regarded as a particularly serious crime both because of the financial and material losses to victims and because of the psychological upset which may follow a break-in (Maguire, 1982). It is also a fairly common crime and accounts for a substantial part of the load on the police, the courts and the prison system. In 1980, about 295,000 burglaries to residential property were recorded by the police in England and Wales and these accounted for some 11% of what in official statistics are now called 'serious offences recorded by the police' (Criminal Statistics, 1980). Only 29% of these residential burglaries were 'cleared up' compared with a clear-up rate of 41 % for all serious offences. Yet, in 1980, burglars receiving prison sentences for offences against residential and non-residential properties still accounted for nearly half of all receptions into prison of males under 21 and nearly a quarter of those over 21 (Prison Statistics, 1980). On the basis of offences recorded by the police in 1980 and the numbers of households recorded in the 1971 census, a rough estimate of the average risk of burglary to households in England and Wales was 1 in 55. Risk figures however are higher when account is taken of offences not reported to the police. According to recent evidence from the General Household Survey (see Criminal Statistics, 1980) these represent some 40% of all residential burglaries which occur. On the basis of both reported and unreported crimes, then, the average risk of burglary to households in 1980 may have been closer to 1 in 35 than 1 in 55.

London: Home Office Research and Planning Unit, 1982 47p.