Criminal Damage
Findings from the 2005 Offending Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS) relevant to criminal damage
ABOUT THE SURVEY
The OCJS surveyed nearly 5000 people in 2005 who were aged between 10 and 25 and living in private households in England and Wales. The self-report data has been weighted to ensure representation of the general population of people living in private households in England and Wales and focuses on levels and trends in youth offending, anti-social behaviour and vicitmisation among young people. The survey does not cover young people living in institutions or the homeless, so it omits some high offending groups.
When broken down by offence type, the sample of respondents giving details about criminal damage is very small so the results should be treated with some caution. However, the results offer a very useful insight into a range of factors including trend data and factors associated with offending and victimisation. The following is a summary of findings relevant to criminal damage.
CRIMINAL DAMAGE OFFENDERS
- A quarter of young people surveyed had committed a 'core offence' (as defined by the survey) in the last 12 months (p16).
- Of the offences committed by the respondents, 5% were criminal damage (p23).
- Males were more likely to say they had committed a criminal damage offence (6%) than females (3%), (p18).
- Levels of criminal damage offending are highest between the ages of 12 and 19. The peak age for committing criminal damage is 14 to 15 (p30).
ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
- 3% of the young people surveyed had committed graffiti (p52).
- The mean age for committing graffiti is 15 (p54)
- Of those who had committed grafitti, 41% did so more than twice (p54).
CONTACT WITH THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM & UNDERSTANDING OF IMPACT AND CONSEQUENCES
- Police spoke to 9% of criminal damage offenders, 2% of offences resulted in a court appearance and 1% resulted in a conviction (p51).
- 80% of criminal damage offenders felt it was fairly or very unlikely that they would get caught (p96).
- 91% of criminal damage offenders were not very worried or not at all worried about the result of their offences (p96).
- Only 22% of criminal damage offenders were very unlikely to commit it again (p96).
- Most criminal damage offenders (80%) thought the value of items damaged was under £50 (p96).
CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINAL DAMAGE OFFENDING
- 44% of criminal damage offences happend in the offender's local area (p90) - in other words, 56% takes place away from the local area.
- The peak times of day for committing criminal damage were in the evening between 6pm and 10pm (37%) and at night time between 10pm and 6am (36%), (p90).
- Co-offenders were involved in 60% of criminal damage incidents (p91).
- Most co-offenders were male (73%), and a friend (85%), (p92).
- Most criminal damage offences were done on the spur of the moment (89%), (p94).
- The most frequently reported motivation for committing criminal damage was 'bored/nothing else to do' (41%). Other reported motivations included, 'was drunk' (22%), 'for the fun/buzz' (13%), 'annoyed/upset by sommeone' (12%) and 'revenge' (10%), (p95).
- 32% of criminal damage offenders had taken alcohol at the time of the incident (p95).
For more information about the survey, view the full report.
Last update: Thursday, June 28, 2007
