Rape, harrasment, domestic abuse rising in UK: report

Violent crime and sexual offences reported in UK increased by 37% within last five years and are now at an “epidemic” level in England and Wales as stated by the police and require the same level of concern as terrorism and organised crime. 

In a National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) study, at least one in every 12 women are subjected to violence each year, amounting to 2 million per year and at least 20 adults are likely to be a perpetrator of this violence. 

It is evident from this report that in the last five years, the rates of rape, domestic violence, stalking, and harassment have risen by 37%; therefore, the UK Home Office considers VAWG as "national security threat."  

In an interview, Maggie Blyth, the lead for NPCC on VAWG, described the situation as a “national emergency” not only because of the extent and working models of multi-agency collaborations but also for the harm it caused to the victims. She confessed that the government can do more about this by increasing its efforts regarding VAWG.

The leader of the Labour party, Keir Starmer, who was the director of public prosecutions until 2018, the Prime Minister stated that his government will cut incidents such as this by 50%. the report identifies five major threats committing 3,000VAGW-related crimes daily in the UK The report also shows five threats to women and girls where one threat covers 3,000 VAWG related crimes per day. 

The police forces in England and Wales recorded over 100,000 reports of rape and other severe sexual offenses from 12 months before the end of March 2023 and 400,000 of domestic abuse and stalking offenses. 

This is an unfortunate implication given that crime rates continue to rise, not all criminals are apprehended and out of the few that are arrested, only 4. Overall, only 4% of all domestic abuse cases end up with convictions. 

During VAWG debates, Jess Phillips, the Minister for Safeguarding, called VAWG ‘a threat to Britain’, a ‘national scandal’. This is concordant with an earlier statement by the NPCC’s Michael Howard who sought to assert the police’s willingness to combat this violence.