The British Crime Survey

The British Crime Survey (BCS) is a very important source of information for the Home Office as it covers levels of crime and public attitude to crime in England and Wales as well as other Home Office issues. These results then play a role in informing Home Office policy.

Since 2001 the BCS moved from a bi-annual to an annual cycle and now interviews over 50,000 people aged 16 or over. The BCS sample is the largest in its history and compares favourably to other surveys in terms of numbers and cross section of the population.

The first survey was published in 1982 and since then 11 further surveys have been carried out, with the 2004/05 being the latest. Interviews are carried out with adults in private households about their experience of crime in the previous 12 months, as well as a number of other crime-related issues.

The BCS measures the amount of crime in England and Wales by asking people about crimes they have experienced in the last 12 months. Crimes reported to the police and crimes which are not reported to the police are included as people do not report crime for a variety of reasons, so without this information the government would not know about these unreported crimes. It is an important alternative to police records.

The BCS looks at people’s attitudes to crime, such as how much they fear being a victim of crime and what measure they take to avoid it. It also looks at people’s attitudes to the Criminal Justice System, the police and courts. As part of this, the BCS also help to identify those most at risk of different crime types which contributes towards the planning of crime prevention programmes.

For more information on the BCS visit http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/bcs1.html.