Fall in crime being exaggerated?

I found this BBC news article quite interesting, it suggests that perhaps the fall crime is being exaggerated.. There are some interesting facts in this too
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21178847

ethnic differences in prison sentences

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324432004578304463789858002

useful statistics in this

Women and crime

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/217824/statistics-women-cjs-2010.pdf I know it's a long document but really helpful :) ENJOY :)

Women and the criminal justice system

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/nov/22/women-criminal-justice-system-statistics-representation This has loads of statistics comparing men and women and their convictions and arrest :)

Timeline: A history of probation

1876: Hertfordshire printer Frederic Rainer, a volunteer with the Church of England Temperence Society (CETS), writes to the society of his concern about the lack of help for those who come before the courts. He sends a donation of five shillings (25p) towards a fund for practical rescue work in the police courts. The CETS responds by appointing two "missionaries" to Southwark court with the initial aim of "reclaiming drunkards". This forms the basis of the London Police Courts Mission (LPCM), whose missionaries worked with magistrates to develop a system of releasing offenders on the condition that they kept in touch with the missionary and accepted guidance. 1880: Eight full time missionaries are in place and the mission opens homes and shelters providing vocational training and develops residential work. 1886: The Probation of First Time Offenders Act allows for courts around the country to follow the London example of appointing missionaries, but very few do so. 1907: The Probation of Offenders Act gives LCPM missionaries official status as "officers of the court", later known as probation officers. The act allows courts to suspend punishment and discharge offenders if they enter into a recognisance of between one and three years, one condition of which was supervision by a person named in the "probation order". 1913: The first newsletter of the National Association of Probation Officers records the association's first annual meeting at Caxton Hall in London on December 11, 1912. The newsletter reports the address given to the Grand Jury of the London Sessions in September 1912 by Robert Wallace KC, who said that the calendar was one of the lightest in the history of the sessions. "Of 137 prisoners, 17 had been sent for sentence as 'incorrigible rogues' and 12 others were awaiting punishment. There were only nine women. There has been a steady diminution in the number of cases ever since the new method of dealing with offenders under the Probation of Offenders Act was adopted four years ago. Of those who had been dealt with in that way, very few had offended again." In a souvenir folder commemorating the 100th anniversary of the probation service, Mike Nellis, professor of criminal and community justice at Glasgow School of Social Work, writes that neither the Home Office nor the Howard Association (later the Howard League for Penal Reform) were enamoured of the CETS and wanted to displace it. "The police court missionaries were often not well educated and their temperence orientation - securing attendance to church and encouraging pledges to avoid alcohol - overshadowed proper probation work. To flesh out the concept of probation, probation rules were developed in dialogue with the interested parties. These included requirements to reside in an approved home or hostel, and permitted fine collection by probation officers - wanted by magistrates but not by the Home Office." 1918: With juvenile crime increasing during and after the first world war, the Home Office concedes that probation should not be left to philanthropic or judicial bodies and that state direction is needed. The influential Molony committee of 1927 stimulates debate about the respective roles of probation officers, local government and philanthropic organisations. It encourages the informal involvement of probation officers in aftercare from both borstal and reformatory schools. 1938: The Home Office assumes control of the probation service and introduces a wide range of modernising reforms. The legal formula of "entering into a recognisance" is replaced by "consent to probation". Requirements for psychiatric treatment are also introduced and it is made mandatory for female probationers to be supervised by women officers. LCPM concentrates on hostels for "probation trainees" and branches out into homes for children in "moral danger", sexually abused children and young mothers. 1948: The Criminal Justice Act incorporates punitive measures such as attendance centres and detention centres, but the stated purpose of the probation order remains intact and is reaffirmed as "advise, assist and befriend". 1970s and 80s: Partnerships with other agencies result in cautioning schemes, alternatives to custody and crime reduction, while changes in sentencing result in day centres, special programme conditions, the probation order as a sentence, and risk of custody and risk of reconviction assessment tools. 2000: The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act renames the probation service as the National Probation Service for England and Wales, replacing 54 probation committees with 42 local probation boards and establishing 100% Home Office funding for the probation service. It creates the post of director general of probation services within the Home Office and makes chief officers statutory office holders and members of local probation boards. 2004: The government publishes Reducing Crime - Changing Lives, which proposes to improve the effectiveness of the criminal justice system and the correctional services in particular. The National Offender Management Service is established with the aim of reducing reoffending through more consistent and effective offender management. The government proposes to introduce commissioning and contestability into the provision of probation services, which it says will drive up standards further among existing providers and to enable new providers to deliver services.

Some crime statistics

Oct 2012 to Sep 2013 compared with:   Apr-02 to Mar-03 Apr-07 to Mar-08 Oct-11 to Sep-12 Total recorded crime - all offences including fraud -38 -25 -3      Victim-based crime4 -42 -28 -4      Other crimes against society 2 -27 -7      Total fraud offences 9 183 34 Table 1:  Number of CSEW incidents for year ending September 2013 and percentage change
England and Wales									Adults aged 16 and over/households
		Oct 2012 to Sep 2013 compared with:
Offence group2	Oct-12 to Sep-133	Jan-95 to Dec-95		Apr-02 to Mar-03		Apr-07 to Mar-08		Oct-11 to Sep-12
	Number of incidents (thousands), percentage change and significance4
Vandalism	1,658	-50	*	-34	*	-36	*	-8	*
Burglary	632	-64	*	-34	*	-11	*	-3
Vehicle-related theft	1,040	-76	*	-56	*	-29	*	-4
Bicycle theft	399	-39	*	12		-7		-15	*
Other household theft	1,096	-51	*	-19	*	6		-19	*
Household acquisitive crime	3,168	-64	*	-37	*	-13	*	-11	*
ALL HOUSEHOLD CRIME	4,827	-60	*	-36	*	-23	*	-10	*
Unweighted base - household crime	35,791
Theft from the person	563	-17	*	-18	*	-3		2
Other theft of personal property	949	-54	*	-29	*	-4		-7
All violence	1,681	-60	*	-38	*	-24	*	-13	*
with injury	916	-62	*	-36	*	-14	*	-13
without injury	766	-57	*	-40	*	-33	*	-14
Personal acquisitive crime	1,689	-45	*	-28	*	-10	*	-7
ALL PERSONAL CRIME	3,193	-54	*	-33	*	-15	*	-9	*
Unweighted base - personal crime	35,829
ALL CSEW CRIME	8,020	-58	*	-35	*	-20	*	-10	*

Prison Population Statistics

www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN04334.pdf