Less Crime, Lower Costs

Implementing effective early crime reduction programmes in England and Wales.>

The estimated cost of crime to the UK is around £78 billion a year.1 This equates to £3,000 per household every year – an extra 20p on the basic rate of income tax. There is also untold pain, suffering and damage caused to an estimated 10 million victims of crime and their families each year.2 While there have been some falls in certain categories of crime in the last decade, the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit itself estimates that 80% of these reductions have been caused by wider economic factors, rather than any successful government crime reduction strategy.3 Now the country is in recession, this report argues that, more than ever, policy should be based on the best available evidence about what works in preventing crime.

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