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Crimes of Violence: Females

Volume 497: debated on Tuesday 13 October 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of offenders identified by the British Crime survey as perpetrators of (a) stranger violence, (b) acquaintance violence and (c) mugging were female in each year for which figures are available. (291775)

The following tables show the percentage of offenders identified by victims of violent incidents as female, male or both (in the case of more than one offender) from the British crime survey between 1995 and 2008-09.

Trends in offender characteristics in violent incidents, BCS typology

Table 1: Sex of offenders in incidents of mugging, 1996 to 2008-09, BCS

Percentage

Mugging

Sex of offenders

1995

1997

1999

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

Male

96

94

92

86

85

89

86

89

82

86

87

Female

2

2

6

7

6

6

7

5

5

9

6

People of both sexes

3

4

2

7

9

5

7

6

13

6

7

Unweighted base

755

147

127

218

243

223

254

267

267

236

259

Table 2: Sex of offenders in incidents of stranger violence, 1996 to 2008-09, BCS

Percentage

Stranger

Sex of offenders

1995

1997

1999

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

Male

84

90

87

85

88

84

81

89

83

79

85

Female

6

6

7

8

5

6

6

5

7

11

9

People of both sexes

10

4

6

7

7

10

13

6

10

10

6

Unweighted base

288

250

308

450

456

516

534

267

595

515

551

Table 3: Sex of offenders in incidents of acquaintance violence, 1996 to 2008-09, BCS

Percentage

Acquaintance

Sex of offenders

1995

1997

1999

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

Male

81

72

73

73

75

75

67

72

72

68

76

Female

12

18

20

14

17

11

21

18

13

13

20

People of both sexes

7

9

7

13

8

14

13

10

15

18

4

Unweighted base

421

348

390

426

492

463

482

505

577

508

488

Notes:

1. Detailed questions about offender(s) are only asked of victims who experienced three or less offences in the last year to minimise respondent burden. Figures here are based on incidents in which the victim could say something about the offender(s).

2. Totals do not always sum to 100 as more than one offender could be involved.

3. Unweighted base is the number of victims who were able to say something about offender.