The o nly reliable info rmatio n o n po lice co sts that is readily available at present is the co st o f the to tal po lice budg et. This budg et must be split into reso urces that are crime-related and tho se that are no t in o rder to estimate the po lice reso urces devo ted to crime. N o natio nal estimates o f the allo catio n o f po lice reso urces are currently available. Ho wever, Humberside Po lice use a detailed activity sampling exercise to analyse the amo unt o f time spent by o fficers o n different tasks and crimes. The results have been adapted in o rder to estimate the pro po rtio n o f po lice activity that is crime-related.
Estimates o f average CJS reso urce co sts fo r different types o f crime are available in a co mputer mo del o f flo ws and co sts thro ugh the criminal justice pro cess develo ped in the Ho me O ffice, in co llabo ratio n with the Lo rd Chancello r’s Department and the Cro wn Pro secutio n Service (Harries, 1 9 9 9 ). This mo del has drawn o n data fro m activity sampling o f CJS staff and co urt time and o n flo ws o f defendants thro ugh the system, and o n reso urce co sts fro m CJS agencies, to pro vide reso urce co st estimates fo r all agencies in the criminal justice pro cess.
3 0
The economic and social costs of crime
3 1
Section IV Estimates and analysis
It is impo rtant to no te that the co st estimates presented thro ug ho ut this sectio n are averag es.
They do no t represent the co st o f specific incidents, and it wo uld be extremely misleading to use them in this way. N o tifiable o ffence categ o ries hide a rang e o f incidents with varying deg rees o f asso ciated trauma and severity. Fo r example ro bbery co uld invo lve anything fro m the threat o f vio lence thro ug h to acts o f vio lence, and asso ciated injury. These are likely to result in sig nificant co sts variatio ns within crime categ o ries.
In additio n the categ o ries do no t disting uish between victims o f crime fro m different g ro ups in so ciety. Fo r example we mig ht expect the elderly to be mo re fearful and traumatised by criminal acts than yo ung er ag e g ro ups. If po licies to prevent victimisatio n targ et specific g ro ups, we need to co nsider ho w crime and trauma affect the relevant so cial g ro up.
Ho wever the estimates give a useful indicatio n o f the so rt o f co st savings, o n average, that co uld be made thro ugh initiatives targeting particular types o f crime. Po int estimates (a specific, single value) are used rather than a range o f values o nly because the info rmatio n available to us is no t generally go o d eno ugh to give us an idea o f the likely range o f values,2 6 o r the uncertainty inherent in particular estimates. The estimates sho uld therefo re be used with cautio n.
All estimates are in 1 9 9 9 prices. W here estimates are o nly available fo r years o ther than 1 9 9 9 , co sts have been up-rated in line with the Retail Price Index. The co sts o f crime have been split into six g ro ups fo r ease o f analysis. These are:
● crimes ag ainst individuals and ho useho lds;
● crimes ag ainst the co mmercial and public secto r;
● fraud and fo rg ery;
● drug s o ffences;
● traffic and mo to ring and o ther no n-no tifiable o ffences;
● wider eco no mic disto rtio ns.
2 6 Appendix 1 pro vides info rmatio n o n hig her and lo wer estimates where alternative so urces o f info rmatio n exist fo r the same type o f co st, but this do es no t quantify the uncertainty o f current estimates, o r g ive a likely rang e fo r the actual value.
32 The economic and social costs of crime
Table 4.1: Average cost estimates for all crimes against individuals and households
In response In anticipation of crime (£) As a consequence of crime (£) to crime (£)
Pro perty Emo tio nal and Criminal Number of TOTAL
Security Insurance sto len and physical impact Lo st Victim Health Justice System Average incidents COST O ffence catego ry expenditure administratio n damaged o n victims o utput services services (incl. Po lice) cost (£) (000s) (£ billion)
Crime against individuals and households
Vio lence against the perso n 2 - - 1 3 ,0 0 0 2 ,5 0 0 1 0 1 ,2 0 0 2 7 0 0 1 9 ,0 0 0 8 8 0 1 6 .8
Ho micide - - - 7 0 0 ,0 0 0 3 7 0 ,0 0 0 4 ,7 0 0 6 3 0 2 2 ,0 0 0 1 ,1 0 0 ,0 0 0 1 .1 1 .2
W o unding (serio us and slight) 2 - - 1 2 ,0 0 0 2 ,0 0 0 6 1 ,2 0 0 2 ,7 0 0 1 8 ,0 0 0 8 8 0 1 5 .6
Serio us wo unding 1 0 - - 9 7 ,0 0 0 1 4 ,0 0 0 6 8 ,5 0 0 1 3 ,0 0 0 1 3 0 ,0 0 0 1 1 0 1 4 .1
O ther wo unding 0 - - 1 2 0 4 0 0 6 2 0 0 1 ,3 0 0 2 ,0 0 0 7 8 0 1 .5
Co mmo n assault 0 - - 2 4 0 2 0 6 - 2 7 0 5 4 0 3 ,2 0 0 1 .7
Sexual o ffences 2 - - 1 2 ,0 0 0 2 ,0 0 0 2 0 1 ,2 0 0 3 ,9 0 0 1 9 ,0 0 0 1 3 0 2 .5
Ro bbery/ Mugging 0 4 0 3 1 0 2 ,4 0 0 4 2 0 6 1 9 0 1 ,4 0 0 4 ,7 0 0 4 2 0 2 .0
Burglary in a dwelling 3 3 0 1 0 0 8 3 0 5 5 0 4 0 4 - 4 9 0 2 ,3 0 0 1 ,4 0 0 2 .7
Theft 4 0 3 0 3 1 0 1 6 0 1 0 0 - 6 0 6 0 0 7 3 0 0 4 .4
Theft (no t vehicle) - 2 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 4 0 - 9 0 3 4 0 3 ,8 0 0 1 .3
Vehicle theft 7 0 5 0 5 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 - 3 0 8 9 0 3 ,5 0 0 3 .1
Criminal Damage 1 0 2 0 1 9 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 - 6 0 5 1 0 3 ,0 0 0 1 .5
All crime against individuals
and ho useho lds (£ billio n) 0 .7 0 .5 4 .1 1 7 .1 3 .0 0 .0 1 .3 5 .8 2 ,0 0 0 1 6 ,4 0 0 3 2 .2
Commercial and public sector victimisation
Burglary no t in a dwelling 9 0 0 5 0 1 ,2 0 0 - 4 0 - - 4 9 0 2 ,7 0 0 9 6 0 2 .6
Theft fro m a sho p 3 0 - 5 0 - - - - 2 0 1 0 0 3 1 ,0 0 0 3 .1
Theft o f co mmercial vehicle 3 ,4 0 0 1 ,5 0 0 4 ,6 0 0 - 6 0 - - 7 0 9 ,7 0 0 4 0 0 .3
33 Estimates and analysis
Theft fro m co mmercial vehicle 2 4 0 1 1 0 3 2 0 - 1 0 - - 3 0 7 0 0 6 0 0 .0
Ro bbery o r till snatch 1 ,2 0 0 1 0 0 1 ,5 0 0 5 9 0 1 2 0 - 5 0 1 ,4 0 0 5 ,0 0 0 7 0 0 .4
Criminal damage 3 4 0 2 0 4 4 0 - 3 0 - - 6 0 8 9 0 3 ,0 0 0 2 .6
All co mmercial and public
secto r victimisatio n (£ billio n) 3 .2 0 .2 4 .2 0 .0 0 .1 0 .0 0 .0 1 .4 2 6 0 9 .1
Fraud and forgery
All fraud and fo rgery (£ billio n) 1 .1 - 1 0 .3 - - - - 0 .6 - 9 2 0 0 1 3 .8
Traffic and motoring/ other non-notifiable offences
Illegal speed - - - - - - - - - - 0 .9
Drug o ffences - - - - - - - - - - 1 .2
O ther indictable
no n-mo to ring o ffences - - - - - - - - - - 1 .0
Indictable mo to ring o ffences - - - - - - - - - - 0 .5
Summary no n-mo to ring o ffences - - - - - - - - - - 0 .4
Summary mo to ring o ffences - - - - - - - - - - 0 .8
All traffic and mo to ring/ o ther
no n-no tifiable o ffences (£ billio n) - - - 0 .7 0 .2 - 0 .0 3 .9 - - 4 .8
TOTAL COST OF CRIM E (£ billion) 4 .9 0 .6 1 8 .6 1 7 .8 3 .3 0 .0 1 .4 1 1 .6 - - 5 9 .9
No tes:
1 . Figures may no t sum to to tal due to ro unding erro rs 2 . - indicates that no figure has been estimated
0
Averag e co st estimates are o nly calculated fo r the first two g ro ups, since these were the o nly g ro ups where reliable info rmatio n was fo und o n co sts and the number o f o ffences. A to tal co st estimate was calculated fo r fraud and fo rg ery, including co sts in anticipatio n and as a co nsequence o f crime, as well as the CJS respo nse to crime. O nly the to tal CJS respo nse to crime (including po lice co sts) was estimated fo r drug o ffences and traffic and mo to ring and o ther no n-no tifiable o ffences. N o estimates have been fo und fo r wider eco no mic disto rtio ns.
Table 4 .1 summarises all these averag e co st estimates, the estimated number o f incidents and the to tal co st estimates fo r each categ o ry, where available.