Crime and Violence
News
- No news for this topic.
Events
- No events for this topic.
Groups
- No groups for this topic.
Darren Anderson
Introduction
Crime is a health issue. It affects the health of our communities and individuals within them directly and indirectly. Crime against health service staff, patients and property diverts resources away from health service provision. Reducing crime benefits health services.
Crimes that impact directly on health include:
- violence
- homicide
- dangerous driving
- drug and alcohol abuse
The effects can be both immediate and long-term.
It has been estimated that the NHS spends over £1 billion per year on treating the victims of crime.
Crimes against staff, patients and NHS property divert resources away from patient care.
Better health, lower crime: a briefing for the NHS and partner agencies., Jim McManus
In addition, there is a clearly established relationship between mental illness and violence, whether against the self or other people. A significant proportion of young offenders, sentenced or remanded in custody, have been found to have some degree of mental health disorder.
Crime is associated with social disorganisation, low social capital, relative deprivation and health inequalities. The same social and environmental factors that predict geographic variation in crime rates may also be relevant to explaining community variations in health and well-being.
Highlight figures
BCS: British Crime Survey (Crime in England & Wales 2007/08):
- All BCS crime down 10% to 10.1 million crimes
- Violent crime down 12%
- Domestic burglary - stable
- Vehicle-related theft down 11%
- Personal theft - stable
- Vandalism down 10%
- Risk of being a victim of crime down from 24% to 22%
Home Office Statistical Bulleting 07/08, published July 2008
