One way to understand crime-related demands on police forces is to track ‘crime pressure’, a measure of investigative workload representing the number of crimes reported to a force per officer, weighted according to Office for National Statistics estimates of the relative severity of different crimes. In the past five years, this measure has risen in every police force in England and Wales, and has doubled in many places. larger image | annotated R code to produce this chart

Most people convicted of a crime will not be convicted or cautioned for another offence within 12 months, although young offenders are more likely to offend again than adults. Most re-offending is by a small number of prolific offenders who frequently pass through the criminal justice system – more than 60% of people released from short prison sentences will reoffend within a year. larger image | annotated R code to produce this chart

Sentences for carrying a bladed or pointed article have become more severe for adults over the past decade, with 41% of men now going to prison on conviction. For younger offenders, the picture is different: half of girls and a third of boys caught with a knife receive no penalty – a proportion that is largely unchanged since 2008 – while fewer than one in ten receive a custodial sentence.

The rapid decrease in the homicide (murder, manslaughter and infanticide) rate in England and Wales between 2000 and 2014 was unprecedented over the previous century, but a third of that decrease has already been reversed. larger image | annotated R code to produce this chart Data sources: Homicide counts 1898 to 2001/02, Homicide counts 2001/02 onwards, Population estimates 1838 to 2018. Notes This chart uses police-recorded homicide offences because that time series extends further back in time than the Home Office Homicide Index, the main alternative source of homicide data.

A combination of legal changes and decreases in many common types of crime, together with closures of custody suites due to budget cuts, mean police are making about 760,000 fewer arrests per year now, compared to a decade ago. The number of children arrested has decreased fastest, potentially driven by recognition of the negative consequences of criminalising young people. larger image | annotated R code to produce this chart