City Research Online

Abstract

The Offence Classification System (OCS) of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) applies a priority order of offences that undercounts violence. By prioritising burglary and criminal damage above some types of assault, physical violence that co-occurs with property crimes is discounted from official counts of incidents and victims of violence. Analysing CSEW data from 2010/11 to 2019/20, we find the OCS omits approximately 210,000 incidents of violence every year. Out of these incidents, 51 per cent are domestic violence against women, contributing further evidence to the CSEW’s gendered data gap. Socioeconomically disadvantaged victims are also disproportionately undercounted. Whilst prior research has highlighted the undercounting of violence prevalence and repetition in the CSEW, the OCS undercounts the concurrency of violence.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in The British Journal of Criminology: An International Review of Crime and Society following peer review. The version of record is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/bjc
Publisher Keywords:	violence, domestic violence, offence codes, gender, Crime Survey for England and Wales
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology K Law > K Law (General)
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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