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Crimes Leading to Charge or Summons

    These statistics are categorised as Under Reservation. This categorisation indicates that the quality of these statistics do not meet the standards required of official statistics published by the CSO.

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For most crimes, a detection means that a suspected offender is issued with a charge or summons and faces prosecution in the Courts.

The proportion of crimes reported in years 2014 to 2018, which have been detected and where the sanction type was a charge or summons, is shown in Table 5.1. This time series is provided, even though it is not provided for detections more broadly, on the basis that the method for recording charges and summons did not change as part of the PULSE 7.3 upgrade. As with detections, there is often a time lag between a crime being reported and a charge or summons issuing to a suspected offender. This time lag affects some crime types more than others. The effect of the time lag should be considered in respect of the time series. Table 5.1 shows the proportion of crimes reported in years 2014 to 2018 which have led to a charge or summons, by the beginning of September 2019. 

The proportion of crimes in Group 02 (Sexual offences) which have led to charge or summons for crimes reported in years 2014, 2015 and 2016 was 22%, 23% and 21% respectively. This figure was lower for crimes reported in 2017, at 17%, and lower again for crimes reported in 2018, at 8%. Given the time lag issue, it may be reasonable to expect rates for crimes reported in more recent years to rise over time as more investigations are completed. 

Despite the time lag, the proportion of crimes in Group 07 (Burglary and related offences), Group 08 (Theft and related offences), Group 10 (Controlled drug offences) and Group 12 (Damage to property and to the environment) which have led to charge or summons is higher for crimes reported in 2018 than for crimes reported in 2014. See Table 5.1 and Figure 5.1.

Table 5.1 Proportion of crimes reported in 2014 - 2018 which have led to charge or summons classified by offence group

X-axis label20142015201620172018
01 Homicide Offences7781757074
02 Sexual Offences222321178
03 Attempts/Threats to Murder, assaults, harassments and related offences2828292624
06 Robbery, Extortion and Hijacking Offences2829323124
07 Burglary and Related Offences1213151514
08 Theft and Related Offences1921262626
10 Controlled Drug Offences6971848579
12 Damage to Property and to the Environment1112141414
13 Public Order and other Social Code Offences4544545456

Go to next chapter: Persons detected and Sanction types