HC Deb 25 July 1969 vol 787 cc526-7W
Mr. Boston

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he proposes to publish the supplementary report on. murder.

Mr. Callaghan

I expect the statistical study that will supplement the Home Office Research Unit report "Murder" (Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1961) to be published during the next few weeks. The new report will cover the period 1957–68 and will include an annex by the Scottish Home and Health Department on murders in Scotland in the same period. The report takes account of a few cases that have previously been incorrectly classified as murder. A detailed analysis of acquittals in England and Wales has also been undertaken, to exclude those cases in which it was clear that the court concluded that no murder had been committed. I propose to adopt these more accurate figures for general comparative purposes from the time the report is published.