§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the five categories of crime that have(a) increased and (b) decreased most since 1979, excluding consequences of criminalisation and decriminalisation.
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§ Mr. MacleanThe five largest increases in recorded crime, i.e. notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, between 1979 and 1992 were:
Per cent. Perverting the course of justice +915 Theft or unauthorised taking from mail +531 Aggravated burglary in a building +377 Other criminal damage value £20+ not endangering life +338 Robbery or assault with attempt to rob +324
The five largest decreases in recorded crime were: Per cent. False accounting -67 Unlawful sexual intercourse with girl over 12 but under 16 -56 Theft by an employee -54 Abstracting electricity -49 Indecency between males -33 Classifications with small numbers of offences and those largely affected by legislation and definitional changes have been excluded.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of changes in the incidence of crimes against the person and of crimes against property since 1979.
§ Mr. MacleanRecorded crimes against the person and crimes against property both increased by 120 per cent. between 1979 and 1992.
§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of crimes committed in the London borough of Lewisham in each year since 1985 were crimes related to(a) theft from residential property, (b) theft from commercial property, (c) theft from vehicles, (d) murder and (e) drugs.
§ Mr. MacleanThe available information relates to notifiable offences recorded by the police and is contained in the table:
Notifiable offences recorded by the police—certain offences as a percentage of all offences in Lewisham Percentages Burglary in a dwelling Burglary in other building Theft from a vehicle Homicide Drug trafficking 1985 16 8 16 0.03 0.2 1986 18 6 19 0.04 0.1 1987 15 7 21 0.05 0.1 1988 19 6 19 0.01 0.2 1989 20 6 19 — 1— 1990 21 7 15 0.03 0.2 1991 19 7 16 0.02 0.2 1992 20 7 14 0.04 0.1 1 Not available
§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were reported to police in the London borough of Lewisham in each year since 1985; and what percentage in each year resulted in a conviction.
§ Mr. MacleanThe available information relates to notifiable offences recorded by the police and is given in the table. It is not possible to link recorded crime statistics with convictions, as the information collected on convictions is compiled on a different basis.
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Number Offences recorded 1985 25,943 1986 27,005 1987 26,384 1988 25,210 1989 26,002 1990 27,959 1991 29,775 1992 31,380
§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many violent crimes were committed in(a) south-east London as a whole and (b) Lewisham, for each year since 1985.
§ Mr. MacleanThe information requested is contained in the table:
Offences of violent crime1 recorded by the police Number South-east London (No. 3 Area) Lewisham 1985 5,792 1,326 1986 6,039 1,444 1987 6,776 1,728 1988 7,060 1,689 1989 8,058 1,961 1990 9,163 2,224 1991 10,980 2,821 1992 11,199 2,646 1 Includes violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery.