Black people more likely to be victims of crime

BLACK people in the East Midlands are more than one-and-a-half times more likely to experience crime than white people, with a quarter saying they’ve been victims.

Across the region, 27 per cent of people who are black said they had been victims of crime between April 2013 and March 2016.

The figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales show people in this ethnic group were 1.6 times more likely to report being victims of crime than white people, with 17per cent of people in this group experiencing crime.

Black people in the area are also more likely to perceive that they are likely or very likely to be victims of crime, with 29 per cent saying this is the case, 10 per cent the 19 per cent of white people who feel they are likely to be victims.

However, black people in the East Midlands are more likely to have confidence in their local police, with 78% saying they agreed or strongly agreed that they did, compared to 76 per cent of white people.

For people who are Asian or of mixed ethnicity in the area, the proportion that said they had been a victim of crime was also higher than the rate for white peo- ple, at 20 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.

People in both ethnic groups are more likely to feel they will be a victim of crime, with 29 per cent of Asian people and 24per cent of those of mixed ethnicity saying it is likely or very likely.

Asian people are more likely to have confidence in their local police, with 81% of Asian people agreeing they have confidence, but levels were lower at 70% among those of mixed ethnicity.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (formerly British Crime Survey) asks people aged 16 and over living in households in England and Wales about their experiences of crime in the previous 12 months. These experiences are used to estimate levels of crime in England and Wales.

The survey provides a better reflection of the extent of household and personal crime than police recorded statistics because the survey includes crimes that are not reported to, or recorded by, the police.

The survey is also a better indicator of long-term trends because it is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police or police recording practices.