The cost of crime
Crime poses a significant cost to individuals, businesses and society. We carry out research and collect and analyse data to enable us to put a monetary value on that cost.
We published our first estimates of the economic and social costs of crime in 2000. This was the first serious and comprehensive attempt to place a monetary value on the costs of crime to victims, businesses, the taxpayer and society in general. The valuation focused on the impact of crime and the harm caused by crime rather than simply on the number of offences.
The research estimated the cost of:
- crime against individuals and households
- commercial and public sector victimisation
- fraud and forgery
- traffic and motoring/other non-notifiable offences
Read more in Home Office Research Study 217.
Why do we need cost of crime figures?
The cost of crime figures help policy-makers to answer questions such as:
- How can we use our existing resources in the most effective way?
- How can we reduce the total cost of crime to society?
- What is the correct level of resourcing for crime reduction activity?
- Should the focus be on preventing crime or mitigating its consequences?
Estimates of the costs of individual crimes enable us to make better-informed decisions about which policy measures are the most effective, by allowing meaningful comparisons to be made of the costs and benefits offered by alternative crime reduction measures. They can help us to prioritise, by focusing scarce resources on policies that have the biggest impact on harm caused by crime, rather than just the number of crimes.
Updating the estimates
Since producing the initial estimates, we have undertaken and commissioned research, data collection and analysis to address the weaknesses and to develop and improve the estimates. The first update, published in June 2005, focuses on crime against individuals and households. This is the largest victim category and the one for which there are most statistics.
Further periodic updates are planned for the future.
Key publications
© Crown
Copyright 2008
