Crime figures 'under-estimated'

Domestic abuse is often a repeat offence

Three million more crimes are committed in England and Wales every year than Home Office figures indicate, according to a report by a think tank.

Civitas says the British Crime Survey is failing to accurately record the experiences of repeat victims of crime.

That survey puts a limit of five on the number of times a victim can be targeted by the same offender.

The report estimates the number of crimes to be 14 million but the Home Office said its figures were reliable.

'Distorted rates'

The survey, based on interviews with 40,000 householders, has long been considered by ministers to be the most reliable of crime indicators.

It is already known to exclude drug offences, crimes against businesses and crime against children under 16.

But this latest anomaly to emerge has been called "misleading" by authors of this new report.

Criminologists Professor Graham Farrell and Professor Ken Pease said crime control, police training and criminal justice were being substantially misdirected as a result of the five-crime cap.

"If the people who say they suffered 10 incidents really did, it is capping the series at five that distorts the rate," the authors said.

"The reality is that some people are very frequently victimised, and that frequent victimisation is what they suffer rather than being an invention or exaggeration."

They calculated that if the cap was ignored, 14 million crimes - not 11 million - were committed every year.

The report estimated:

Violent crime was 82% higher that the British Crime Survey suggested (from 2.4 million to 4.4 million offences)

Domestic violence was 140% higher (from 357,000 to 857,000)

Common assaults were 98% higher (from 1.5 million to nearly 3 million)

Robbery was 7% higher (from 311,000 to 333,000)

A Home Office spokesman said the British Crime Survey was the most reliable measure of crime in England and Wales and had contributed significantly to the public's understanding of crime trends in the last 25 years.

He added that the Home Office was confident trends in crime were "largely unaffected" by the methodology.

Shadow home secretary David Davis called for crime statistics to be published independent of the Home Office.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said ignoring the extent of repeat offences did nothing to help people suffering the trauma of being a regular target of criminals.