Reference no: EM133306820

Question: Summarise and critique a newspaper article and its claims that crime rates are rising in England and Wales year ending June 2021 When reading this newspaper article, think about whether the claims it makes are based on the statistical evidence from the ONS government report

Crime epidemic in your own home: lockdown leads to surge in violence and sex offences in the home

By Kirsten Campbell

A new report of crime statistics in England and Wales shows that crime has skyrocketed with a massive 13 million offences reported to police over the last year.

WOMEN MOST AT RISK

Rape and attempted rape are at the highest ever levels, up a record 15% compared to pre-lockdown figures, leading to women cowering in their homes. Sue Taylor from Manchester said 'I've got friends just downright scared of another lockdown - the thought of them being stuck in the house with their man again is just sickening'.

The government report has shown that fewer than 1 in 6 women are likely to report sexual offences to the police, meaning that a whopping 1 million sexual offences have actually taken place in the home.

DOMESTIC ABUSE ON THE RISE

And there's even more bad news with a crippling 850,000 domestic abuse offences recorded across England and Wales in the past year. After hearing about the figures, Dave Thompson of Blyth thought this could be linked to mental health, saying: 'It's no wonder, people go crazy when they're locked up in the house'.

Calls to victim support charities also suggest that these figures are largely under-reported, with the severity of domestic offences also showing an increase over the past year.

The biggest crime hotspot was Manchester and rates have also soared in other local authorities, blighting local communities and making people question their safety in their own homes.