In October 2003 the Government published some international crime comparisons which drew in part on the International Crime Victims Survey, which currently covers 17 industrialised countries. It admits that England and Wales had 'well above average' levels of both property and contact crime.(Issue 12/03)

The latest survey found that England and Wales in 1999 had the second highest risk of crime. Australia was bottom of the league with 30% of people reporting that they had been a victim of crime and England and Wales came next with 26%. In the USA the figure was only 21%. In Europe the Netherlands and Sweden were not much better than England and Wales with figures of 25%, but in France only 21% reported that they had suffered from a crime. Based on crimes reported to the British Crime Survey in 2000, if the French figure had applied to England and Wales, there would have been nearly three million fewer crimes.

Yet, the front page of the Home Office report highlighted in its bullet points comparisons over the previous 12 months taken from The European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics. Compared with a year earlier total violent crime had risen by 2% and robbery had fallen by 14%. When originally presenting the findings of the international survey in 2001 the Home Office emphasised the British Crime Survey findings. In its press release, the Government declared its determination to do more to drive down crime by implementing the policies necessary to 'ensure that Britain continues to be one of the safest places in the world in which to live'. (Home Office Press Release, 03/05/2001.)

However, the press release failed to mention that the risk of being a victim of crime (the Government's preferred measure) in England and Wales was the 16th worst out of the 17 countries in the international survey. The press release drew attention to the low murder rate in England and Wales, but not the fact that England and Wales were 16th out of 17 for 'contact crime', including robbery, assaults with force and sexual assaults. (International Comparison of Criminal Justice Statistics 1999, Home Office: May 2001.)

• People in England and Wales experienced more crime per head than any other country in the survey, 54.5 crimes per 100 inhabitants compared with an average of 35.2 per 100.
• People in England and Wales face the second highest risk of being a victim of crime. Australia was the worst with 30% of its people victims of crime in 2000, followed by England and Wales with 26.4%.
• England and Wales had the worst record for 'very serious' offences, scoring 18 for every hundred inhabitants, followed by Australia with 16.
• More people have gone to the expense of installing burglar alarms than in any other country surveyed, 34% compared with 26% in Australia and 24% in America.
• People in England and Wales felt they were more unsafe when out alone after dark than people in most other countries surveyed, ranking 4th out of 17.
• Contact crime, defined as robbery, sexual assault, and assault with force, was second highest in England and Wales (3.6% of those surveyed). The highest figure was for Australia, where it was 4.1%. The figure for the USA was 1.9% and for Japan, 0.4%.

Click here to check out the original source: the International Crime Victim Survey.