Crime improvement claims 'misleading'

Monday, 15 January 2007 12:00 AM

The government's claims to have significantly improved law and order have been overstated and were at times misleading, an independent report has warned.

A study from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London says the huge investment has not led to significant improvements in the crime or conviction rates.

Ministers will spend £22.7 billion on law and order this year, and today's report acknowledges that "on the face of it" there have been gains.

For example, the overall crime rate has fallen 35 per cent since 1997, and targets on recruiting more police and speeding up the youth justice system have been met.

But it warns these targets ignore the fact that murder rates have gone up since 1997 and that less than three per cent of crimes result in a conviction or a caution. In addition, most reoffending targets have been modified, missed or dropped altogether.

However, the Home Office said it "firmly rejects this analysis", saying the government had made good progress in making Britain a safer place.

"Labour is surprisingly vulnerable on crime and criminal justice, as its recent problems with foreign crime convictions demonstrates all too clearly," said Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies and co-author of the report.

"Despite its apparently strong record, many of Labour's key claims to success in tackling crime and improving the criminal justice system do not stand up to detailed scrutiny."

Deputy director and co-author Enver Solomon added: "We have found that the results have been mixed and, significantly, the government has been too quick to claim successes that are not always apparent."

Shadow home secretary David Davis said the report revealed "fiddled figures and doubtful claims", noting that claims to have increased the number of crimes brought to justice ignored a fall the conviction rate from 69 per cent in 2003 to 53 per cent last year.

"The rest have been provided by gimmicks such as fines and increased use of cautions meaning actual and effective justice is not being delivered," he said.

A Home Office spokesman acknowledged there was "still much to do", but said overall crime, violent crime and domestic crime had fallen in the past ten years, while the extra investment had led to 14,000 more police officers being employed.

"Over 250,000 more offences are now brought to justice each year than five years ago through a range of punishments, including penalty notices for disorder, which have been warmly welcomed by the police service and are saving thousands of hours of police time for frontline duties," he added.

Tags:
• crime
,
• domestic policy
,
• youth offending