NCJ Number
199915
Date Published
2003
Length
147 pages
Annotation
This report by the Northern Ireland Office presents 2001 crime statistics for Northern Ireland.
Abstract
Separate chapters are presented for each of the following topics: notifiable offenses recorded by the police, offenses cleared by the police, court proceedings, sentencing, prison population and receptions, and crime victimization and fear of crime. It is noted that as a result of New Home Office rules for the counting of crimes, the recorded crime level in Northern Ireland more than doubled between 1997 and 2001. In 2001, property crime accounted for 77 percent of all recorded crimes while violent crime constituted 21 percent of all crime in Northern Ireland. The only crime category to decrease was in the sexual offenses category, which dropped by 1 percent from 1997 to 2001. During 2001, the clearance rate for crimes was 20 percent, which represented the lowest rate of crimes cleared by the police during the past decade. The highest clearance rates of 2001 were reported for violence against the person (47 percent clearance rate), sexual offenses (47 percent), and other offenses, which were mainly drug-related (72 percent). Burglary and robbery had the lowest clearance rates, at 10 percent and 14 percent respectively in 2001. During 1999, 29,582 defendants stood before magistrates’ courts, representing a 1 percent decrease from 1998 and a 19 percent decrease from 1995. During 1999, 1,018 juvenile offenders were proceeded against in all courts, representing a 15 percent decrease from 1998. The most common sentence in a magistrates’ court was a fine, which was given to 70 percent of all defendants in 1999. In the Crown Court, the most frequently used disposal was immediate custody, which was given to 57 percent of those sentenced in 1999. In 2001, the majority of the prison population was male (98 percent), with 68 percent of this population serving sentences of immediate custody. Between September 2001 and August 2001, 19.7 percent of all Northern Ireland households were victimized by criminal activity. Fifty-nine percent of people reported being afraid of theft of a car and 54 percent were worried about burglary. However, 61 percent of respondents claimed that fear of crime did not affect their quality of life.