NCJ Number
113433
Journal
Home Office Research and Planning Unit Research Bulletin Issue: 23 Dated: (1987) Pages: 42-47
Date Published
1987
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Victimization survey and police data on residential burglary for 1972 to 1985 were compared for Canada, the United States (U.S.) and England and Wales (U.K.).
Abstract
An examination of police data suggests that burglary rates were higher in the U.S. and Canada than in England initially, but that English rates overtook U.S. and Canadian rates by 1985. U.S. police figures increased between 1973 and 1980; but survey rates fell. Survey rates for 1985 were a third lower in 1985 than in 1973, while policy rates for 1985 were still marginally higher than in 1973. In England and Wales burglaries more than doubled between 1972 and 1983 according to police figures, while survey data indicate an increase of less than 20 percent. Increased reporting may account for a part of this divergence; policy recording also may have contributed. In these cases, survey data show larger differences in rates than do police figures. For instance, they indicate a national residential burglary rate that is 65 percent higher for the U.S. than the U.K., whereas police figures in England were only 16 percent higher in 1981-1983. Survey figures also show a bigger U.S. lead over Canada than police figures. Results suggest caution in drawing conclusions about crime trends based on police figures alone. While survey data also suffer some limitations, they are intuitively more plausible, and they may be more reliable. 1 table, 2 figures, 12 notes, and 9 references.