Drug-related Crime

HC Deb 27 January 2004 vol 417 cc263-4W

Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the level of drug-related crime in(a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Chorley; and what the cost of drug-related crime was in each area in each of the last three years. [149966]

Caroline Flint

Recorded crime figures include statistics on drugs offences, such as possession, and on acquisitive crimes, such as burglary, but do not record whether the latter are related to an offender's drug habits.

The NEW-ADAM research programme of interviewing and drug testing those arrested by the police sheds some light on the links between drugs and crime, although the conclusions do not relate specifically to Lancashire and the North West region. Data from eight locations (1999–2000) indicated that more than three-fifths (by value) of acquisitive crime was committed by users of both heroin and cocaine/crack.

The total number of acquisitive crimes recorded by the police in Lancashire and the North West region in 2002–03 are set out in Table 1 as follows (data are not available for Chorley). Acquisitive crimes are burglary, theft, handling stolen goods and robbery.

Table 1: Acquisitive crimes recorded by the police, 2003–03
	Number
Lancashire	89,993
North West	588,566

Source:

"Crime in England and Wales 2002–2003" Home Office Statistical Bulletin 07/03.

Estimates of the costs of drug-related crime are not available annually or broken down by region. However, a recent study published by the Home Office provides estimates of the total economic and social costs of Class A drug use and puts these in the range of £10.1 to £17.4 billion for the year 2000. These costs include the costs of drug-related crime, which are estimated to fall in the range £8.8 to £15.8 billion. The costs of drug-related crime include victim costs and those accruing to courts, prisons and other parts of the criminal justice system.