Read Handbook on Sexual Violence Online
Authors: Jennifer Sandra.,Brown Walklate
Handbook on Sexual Violence (23 page)
of allegations. The chapter focuses primarily on data relating to violence against women. While the data in this
chapter primarily concern England and Wales, the methods of measurement have wider application.Three types of data are reported here: first, data from the British Crime
Survey; second, police-recorded crime and criminal statistics; and third, data from small studies. The crime surveys, which ask a random sample of the population about their experiences of crime, provide the most robust data on the extent to which certain forms of violence against women are committed. Data from police records are used with caution, and only in the absence of other data, as they are likely to be a serious underestimate of the actual number of crimes committed since substantial numbers of people do not report such violence to the police. Data from small studies are used where these are the only data source, but here too there must be caution about any claim to representativeness or accurate knowledge about the national extent of any issue.
Measurement of sexual violence by national surveys
In recognition that recorded crime statistics do not include all crimes committed, there has been the development of population surveys commissioned by the government, in particular the Home Office. The British Crime Survey (England and Wales) asks a nationally representative sample of the population whether they have suffered a crime in the last year. The BCS include both crime code definitions and other definitions of violence. These surveys are in two parts: the first uses face-to-face interviewing and crime codes; the second is a self-completion section comprising different modules that vary from year to year, including a module on interpersonal violence. Self-completion encourages a higher rate of disclosure of domestic and sexual violence, and the module uses a wider range of definitions. The level of domestic violence disclosed in the self-completion module is five times higher than that in the face-to-face part of the survey (Walby and Allen 2004). A self- completion module on domestic violence was included in 1996, 2001, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08, and in some years there have been questions on sexual victimisation, which include asking about the relationship of the offender to the victim.
Thus the source of the most reliable data on the extent of sexual violence is the British Crime Survey (BCS), in particular the sections of the self-completion module that address sexual assault. These surveys are more reliable than recorded crime data because of the low rate of reporting such crimes to the police, although even survey data may still underestimate the extent of crime. Since this is a sample survey, forms of sexual violence that are less common cannot be accurately identified using this method, so remain invisible.
According to the British Crime Survey, approximately 10,000 women are sexually assaulted every week (BCS self-completion 2007/2008). There have been small fluctuations in the percentage of women who suffer sexual assault, but no substantial change in any one direction, as shown in Table
4.1. According to the BCS self-completion, this varies between 2.1 per cent in 2000/Table 4.1
Prevalence of sexual violence among adults aged 16–59 in the last year, England and Wales, % (British Crime Survey)
Sex 2001 2004/05 2007/08 2008/09
Sexual assault (any assault including
attempts) %
M
0.2
0.6
0.4
0.4
F
2.1
2.8
2.9
2.5
By type:
Serious sexual assault including attempts
M
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
F
0.5
0.5
0.6
0.5
Serious sexual assault excluding attempts
M
<0.1
0.1
0.1
0
F
0.3
0.3
0.4
0.3
Rape including attempts
M
<0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
F
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.4
Rape excluding attempts
M
<0.1
0.1
0.1
0
F
0.2
0.2
0.3
0.3
Assault by penetration including attempts
M
<0.1
0.1
0
0
F
0.3
0.2
0.3
0.3
Assault by penetration excluding attempts
M
<0.1
0
0
0
F
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.1
Less serious sexual assault
M
0.2
0.5
0.3
0.4
F
1.9
2.6
2.7
2.3
Sources
: 2004/05-2008/09: Walker
et al
. (2009); 2001: Finney (2006)Data are available on the amount of intimate partner abuse that is sexual, as shown in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2
Prevalence of intimate violence in the last year (partner abuse, non-sexual; sexual assault), % England and Wales (British Crime Survey)Sex
2001
2004/05
2008/09
Partner abuse (non-sexual)
– any abuse, threat or force
M
4.5
3.6
2.7
F
6
4.7
4.4
– threat or force
M
2.3
2
1.2
F
4.2
3.2
2.7
Sexual assault
– any including attempts
M
0.2
0.6
0.4
F
2.1
2.7
2.5
– serious including attempts
M
0.1
0.1
0.1
F
0.5
0.5
0.5
– serious excluding attempts
M
<0.1
0.1
0
F
0.3
0.3
0.3
– rape 2003 including attempts
M
<0.1
0.1
0.1
F
0.3
0.3
0.4
– rape 2003 excluding attempts
M
<0.1
0.1
0
F
0.2
0.2
0.3
– assault by penetration 2003 including attempts
M
<0.1
0.1
0
F
0.3
0.2
0.3
– assault by penetration 2003 excluding attempts
M
<0.1
<0.1
0
F
0.2
0.1
0.1
– Less serious sexual assault
M
0.2
3.6
0.4
F
1.9
4.7
2.3
Sources
: 2008/09: Walker
et al
. (2009); 2001 and 2004/05: Finney (2006)Recorded crime statistics
Data on the extent of violent crime offences, that are defined by crime codes and recorded by police, are reported on by the Home Office and placed in the public domain as ‘recorded crime’. Recorded crime is a source of data only on those offences that are reported to and subsequently recorded by the police. Many instances of violence are not reported to the police (Walby and Allen 2004). Events that are reported are variously recorded: as incidents, crime- related incidents, or crimes. In some instances, events that may be considered crimes are recorded as incidents. This means that these data do not constitute a reliable estimate of the full extent of violence, but rather an underestimate.
In order to measure the extent of violent crime and access to justice, the criminal justice system collects data using units that are defined predominantly in crime codes. These are embedded in law and institutional practice, with manuals specifying the definitions together with instructions as to coding practice. Changes to both the Crime Code (for example the creation of new offences in law) and to the rules used in counting crime impact upon crime recording practices and, by implication, the availability of data and whether it is possible to conduct analyses over time. Recording practices changed with the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in 2002 (England and Wales) (Home Office 2009a). The recording of sexual offences was modified by the Sexual Offences Act 2003, slightly widening the definition of rape (Home Office 2008a).
Table 4.3 shows the number of sexual offences recorded by the police 1997– 2009. The category ‘most serious sexual crime’ includes rape of female/male; sexual assault on male/female; gross indecency; unlawful sexual activity with child; and trafficking for sexual exploitation. ‘Other sexual offences’ includes incest; abduction of female; exposure or voyeurism; and exploitation of prostitution. Police-recorded crime statistics (Table
4.3) show an increase in the number of most serious sexual crime and sexual offences reported and recorded by the police over the past 11 years. The number of recorded rapes has more than doubled. However, changes in reporting and recording practices mean that this is not necessarily indicative of an increase in rape; rather it is an increase in the official recording of rape.Table 4.3
Police-recorded crime statistics on sexual offences, England and Wales
Year 1997 1998/99 2000/01 2002/03 2004/05 2006/07 2008/09
Rape of a female
6,281
7,132
7,929
11,445
12,869
12,624
12,165
Rape of a male
347
504
664
850
1,144
1,150
968
Total most serious
sexual crime
31,334
33,424
35,152
45,317
47,542
43,738
40,787