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How much violence is there?

    This VISION Policy Brief proposes improvements to the definitions and measurement of violence using the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), in order to more fully capture different aspects of violent crime, including violence against women and girls (VAWG). The briefing is aimed at researchers, national statistics offices, and others involved in violence research and policy. It draws on a paper recently published in The British Journal of Criminology, Definition and measurement of violence in the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

    Key findings:

    • The current definition of violent crime excludes key types: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) headline measure of ‘violent crime’ currently excludes sexual violence, robberies, threats of violence, and many incidents of violence where criminal damage was also involved.
    • A broader definition would better capture scale, harm and inequalities: We use a broader measure of violence that includes these currently excluded forms of violence. This broader measure not only reveals a higher prevalence of victimisation in the population as a whole, it also reveals hidden inequalities. Women are more likely than men to experience sexual violence and threats of violence: excluding these from current estimates leads to rates of violence in women, especially domestic violence, being underestimated. The proportion of people physically and emotionally harmed by violence is also better estimated using this broader definition, particularly affecting estimates for women.

    Recommendation for change:

    • National statistics on violence in England and Wales should show violence estimates using a broader definition of violence alongside violent crime statistics to give a more comprehensive overview of violence and its societal impact.

    To download the policy briefing, please see below. To download the paper upon which the policy recommendation is based, please see: Definition and Measurement of Violence in the Crime Survey for England and Wales: Implications for the Amount and Gendering of Violence | The British Journal of Criminology | Oxford Academic

    The citation for the paper: Davies, E., Obolenskaya, P., Francis, B., Blom, N., Phoenix, J., Pullerits, M., and Walby, S. (2024), Definition and Measurement of Violence in the Crime Survey for England and Wales: Implications for the Amount and Gendering of Violence, The British Journal of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azae050

    VISION Policy Briefing for downloading:

    Violence Measurement_VISION Policy BriefingDownload

    Violence in the workplace in the United Kingdom

      Our latest research examines two nationally representative datasets, The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) and the UK Household Panel Survey (UKHLS), to examine variance in the prevalence of workplace violence by industrial sector and occupational group.

      The authors, Dr Vanessa Gash and Dr Niels Blom, found 28% of commercial businesses reported criminal victimisation on their premises in the past year, including 8% reporting violent victimisation (namely assaults, robberies, and threats).

      Using individual-level data, the report also found 8% of employees had been threatened, insulted or physically attacked at work in the past year, and a similar percentage have felt unsafe at work, with public sector workers most at risk.

      The authors call for enhanced recognition of the problem of workplace violence for a significant proportion of workers in multiple different sectors, alongside improved policies to minimise workplace violence going forward.

      Figure 1. Prevalence of Violence and Fear of Violence in the Workplace by Sector, UKHLS data 2020-2021, weighted estimates

      The report can be downloaded here: VISION Policy Report – Violence in the workplace in the UK: Business and individual-level exposure

      Acknowledgements:

      The report benefited from input and insights from the Home Office, who provided us with access to the Commercial Victimisation Survey used here.

      Photograph licensed by Adobe Stock

      Report launch: A transformative justice framework to address adolescent relationship abuse

        This event is in the past.

        Despite a general awareness of the prevalence of harm young people are experiencing in their relationships, there is little data and evidence supporting the prevention of and responses to such harm through the adoption of a survivor centred transformative justice approach.

        Talia Kensit, founder and former CEO of Youth Realities, explored adolescent domestic abuse as a Fellow with the Churchill Fellowship, a UK charity which supports individual UK citizens to follow their passion for change, through learning from the world and bringing that knowledge back to the UK.

        Her travels and research resulted in Prevention, Intervention and Healing: Addressing Adolescent Relationship Abuse, a framework of best practice upheld by the theory of transformative justice. It is Talia’s recommendation that in order to address the epidemic of harm experienced by young people in their intimate relationships, we must implement polices and practice through prevention, intervention and healing.

        The Violence & Society Centre at City St George’s, UoL, and the UK Prevention Research Partnership VISION consortium are pleased to host Talia’s Churchill report launch on Wednesday 6 November from 4 – 6 pm at City St George’s, UoL, Clerkenwell campus.

        Talia will also be joined by:

        •  Ruth Weir, City St George’s, UoL, Taking a collaborative approach to understanding more about abuse in teenage relationships
        • Christine Barter, University of Central Lancashire, Qualitative findings looking at the nature and impact of IPVA in young people’s relationships
        • Jeff Temple, University of Texas, Dating violence prevention program: implementation and effectiveness

        Seating, drinks and nibbles will be provided.

        To register for the event: Select tickets – Report launch: A transformative justice framework to address adolescent relationship abuse – City St George’s , University of London, Clerkenwell campus (tickettailor.com)

        For questions about the event: violenceandsociety@city.ac.uk

        All those registering will receive an email by 30 October from the Violence and Society Centre with the room and building number where the launch will be held on our Clerkenwell campus.

        Commercial determinants of violence highlighted at World Safety Conference by Prof Mark Bellis

          This September, on behalf of the VISION research consortium and Liverpool John Moores University, Professor Mark Bellis gave the plenary violence prevention address to World Safety Conference in in New Delhi, India.

          World Safety 2024 is the World Health Organization’s biennial global conference on injury prevention and safety promotion, covering all aspects of violence and unintentional injury.

          Mark’s plenary dealt with the commercial determinants of violence based on a paper published earlier this year with his VISION colleagues, Professor Sally McManus and Dr Olumide Adisa, and others.

          In his presentation, Mark outlined how, as well as governments, public sector organisations and charities, commercial organisations also have a major part to play in the prevention of violence. The plenary considered commercial influence on violence through political, scientific, marketing supply/waste chain, labour & employment financial and reputational management practices. For some industries such as the arms and alcohol industries their relationships the causes of violence are already relatively well understood. However, mining, financial, social media, clothing and other manufacturing industries are also contributors to a growing violence problem.

          The plenary presentation addressed commercial impacts on child maltreatment, sexual and domestic violence, youth violence and elder abuse. It also explored how companies can, and should, move from being part of the violence problem to leaders in implementing solutions. 

          Definition and measurement of violence in the Crime Survey for England and Wales

            The definitions and methodology used in surveys to measure violence have implications for its estimated volume and gendered distribution. The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) uses quite a narrow definition of ‘violence against the person’ which excludes crimes which are arguably violent in nature.

            VISION researchers Elouise Davies, Polina Obolenskaya, Brian Francis and Niels Blom worked with colleagues Jessica Phoenix, Merili Pullerits and Sylvia Walby to expand the CSEW’s measurement of violence to include threats, robbery, sexual violence and mixed violence/property crimes as violence. 

            The team investigates the implications of using an expanded definition of violence on the subsequent estimates of interpersonal violence and its distribution (the proportion of incidents of violence committed towards women, and the proportion of incidents that are committed by domestic relations rather than acquaintances or strangers). Additionally, they investigate how the expanded definition of violence shows an increased health burden of violence by investigating the number of injuries and the number and proportion of victims that are strongly emotionally impacted.

            This results in a shift in the gender distribution of violence, with a higher proportion of violence against women (from 39% to 58%) and by domestic perpetrators (from 29% to 32%).

            Impacts of violence – injuries and emotional harm – are also affected by the change in definition and disproportionally so for women.

            For further information, please see: Definition and Measurement of Violence in the Crime Survey for England and Wales: Implications for the Amount and Gendering of Violence | The British Journal of Criminology | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

            Or please contact Elouise at e.davies4@lancaster.ac.uk

            Illustration licensed by Adobe Photo Stock

            Green space may be important in the prevention of crimes

              The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals such as Goal 16, Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, highlight the importance of using policy tools, for example urban planning, to prevent crimes. However, existing evidence of the association between green space and crime is mixed. Some studies indicate that the inconsistencies may be due to the variance in types of vegetation and the rates of crime reported across regions and countries.

              Therefore, UK Prevention Research Partnership funded consortia, GroundsWell and VISION, worked together to assess the conditional association between green space and crime. Groundswell researchers Dr Ruoyu Wang, Dr Claire L. Cleland, Dr Agustina Martire, Prof Dominic Bryan, and Prof Ruth F. Hunter collaborated with VISION researchers Dr Ruth Weir and Prof Sally McManus to consider the influence of vegetation type such as grassland and woodland, crime type such as violence and theft, and the rates of crime reported in Northern Ireland.

              They found that the association between green space and crime varies by vegetation type, crime type and rates of crime. The analyses showed that relatives were:

              • More grassland may be associated with lower crime rates, but only in areas with relatively low crime rates.
              • More woodland may also be associated with lower crime rates, but only for areas with relatively high crime rates.
              • The associations between green space and crime varied by type of crime.

              Check out their recent publication, Rethinking the association between green space and crime using spatial quantile regression modelling: Do vegetation type, crime type, and crime rates matter?, where they discuss their findings further as well as the implications for government approaches to consider green space as a potential crime reduction intervention. Policymakers and planners should consider green space as a potential crime reduction intervention, factoring in the heterogeneous effects of vegetation type, crime type and crime rate.

              To read the article or download free of charge:

              Rethinking the association between green space and crime using spatial quantile regression modelling: Do vegetation type, crime type, and crime rates matter? – ScienceDirect

              To cite:

              Wang, R., Cleland, C. L., Weir, R., McManus, S., Martire, A., Grekousis, G., Bryan, D., & Hunter, F. R. (2024). Rethinking the association between green space and crime using spatial quantile regression modelling: Do vegetation type, crime type, and crime rates matter?. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening.

              Illustration / photograph licensed under Adobe Photo Stock

              Mental health service responses to violence: VISION symposia at the European Psychiatric Association

                An aim of the VISION programme is to examine the nature and extent of contact that people with experience of violence have with various health and justice services.

                Findings on mental health services were presented in a series of symposia at the European Psychiatric Association’s Section on Epidemiology and Social Psychiatry this year.

                The first brought together six studies on experiences of violence and adversity and implications for mental health service use. These included King’s College London’s Anjuli Kaul presenting on Sexual Violence in Mental Health Service Users and Sian Oram on Mental Health Treatment Experiences of Minoritised Sexual Violence Survivors, with further contributions from Emma Soneson (Oxford), Maryam Ghasemi (Auckland), and Ladan Hashemi and Sally McManus (both City St George’s).

                A second symposium highlighted the value of the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey to violence research, with Sally McManus presenting on Threatening or Obscene Messages from a Partner and Mental Health, Self-harm and Suicidality.

                Finally, a third symposium featuring VISION researchers Angus Roberts, Rob Stewart and others and highlighted how natural language processing can be used with information collected in mental health settings. Sharon Sondh (South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust) presented on classifying experiences of violence in mental healthcare records.

                Mental health outcomes of being a close relative of a serious assault victim

                  There is a now sizeable body of evidence that shows how violence can harm health, across different populations (e.g., violence experienced by older people or by people with insecure migration status) and contexts (e.g., violence within the workplace).

                  However, much less is known about the effects of violence on the close relatives of victims. This is particularly surprising considering the critical role that relatives play in providing support, care, and advocating for victims in the aftermath of violence.

                  VISION researchers, Dr Elizabeth Cook and Professor Sally McManus, address this gap in their recently published, Indirect victims of violence: mental health and the close relatives of serious assault victims in England, an open access article in Social Science & Medicine. They conducted a secondary analysis of the 2014 APMS (a cross-sectional, household mental health survey of 7,519 adults in England). Lizzie and Sally wanted to find out what proportion of the population was closely related to a victim of serious assault, and to assess whether being a relative was associated to poorer mental health outcomes.

                  They found that approximately 1 in 20 adults were closely related to a serious assault victim. The analyses showed that relatives were:

                  • more likely to be anxious and twice as likely to be fearful in their neighbourhood
                  • more likely to be dealing with multiple, other types of adversity such as their own experiences of serious assault and financial strains

                  Check out their piece, Families of victims of violent assault have double the risk of anxiety – new study, in The Conversation, where they discuss their findings further as well as the implications for government approaches to counting the costs of the effects of violence for society.

                  To read the article or download it free of charge:

                  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953624007329

                  To cite:

                  Cook, E. and McManus, S. (2024). Indirect victims of violence: mental health and the close relatives of serious assault victims in England. Social Science & Medicine.

                  To contact the authors:

                  Photography licensed by Adobe Photo Stock

                  New book & upcoming launch- Tackling Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence: A Systems Approach

                    This event is in the past.

                    Tackling Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence: A Systems Approach is a newly edited collection, curated by University of Suffolk colleagues, Dr Olumide Adisa (and Co-Investigator at VISION, and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Violence & Society Centre, City St George’s) and Professor Emma Bond, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Knowledge Exchange.

                    The book’s chapters use retrospective case studies to engage with a systems approach to discover new thinking and applications that may best suit the area of domestic abuse and sexual violence (DASV). All the chapters showcase systems approaches in varying ways to ignite new inquiries and conversations about grappling with the greater complexity of problems.

                    Dr Adisa and Professor Bond, together with their collaborators, will launch the book at a special event at City St. George’s University of London on Tuesday, 26 November at 5.30 pm. They will explain the book and share their inspiration for the themes covered. A panel of speakers will share their collective vision for systems change in tackling DASV in different systems. The event will also feature poetry (spoken word) performances based on lived/living experiences of domestic abuse and as a survivor-centred response to the book’s themes.  

                    Dr Adisa said:

                    “I am incredibly excited about the launch event. I have been overwhelmed by the positive and heartwarming reaction to the book from those committed to tackling the problem of DASV and those sadly affected by DASV. I have been impressed with the brilliant contributions made by all the authors who are deeply committed to bringing about change. This event is an opportunity to hear from some amazing speakers and forge new encounters and connections, united in our quest to reduce DASV and mitigate its devastating impact on children, families, and communities.”

                    Professor Sally McManus, Director of the Violence and Society Centre, and Co-Deputy Director, VISION, said:

                    “Dr Adisa works at the forefront of systems thinking. This new collection – co-curated with Prof Bond – brings a radical new approach to addressing violence and abuse, rooted in diverse real-world examples of challenge and change. The book houses many rich voices, distinct yet drawn together through common themes of complexity and hope.”

                    Please join Dr Adisa, Professor Bond, and their fellow collaborators at their 26 November book launch at The Pavilion, University Building, City St George’s, from 5:30 – 7 pm. Drinks and nibbles will be provided.

                    Registration is required for this free event: Select tickets – Book launch: Tackling Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence – A Systems Approach – The Pavilion, University Building, City, University of London (tickettailor.com).

                    This book launch is hosted by the UK Prevention and Research Partnership consortium, Violence, Health and Society (VISION) (MR-V049879) and the Violence and Society Centre at City, University of London (VASC).

                    VISION/VASC Webinar Series: Measuring the global burden of morbidity associated with violence against women and children

                      This event is in the past.

                      We are pleased to announce our next webinar for the VISION and Violence & Society Centre (VASC) Webinar Series on Tuesday, 1 October 2024, 1300 – 1350.

                      Joht Chandan, Clinical Professor of Public Health at the University of Birmingham, will present his research on measuring the global burden of morbidity associated with violence against women and children.

                      Joht has spent considerable time working on designing and delivering a public health approach to abuse and violence. This includes research into finding what works to support survivors of violence, abuse and maltreatment as well as methods to improve surveillance in the context of violence against women and children. For example, his research has shown that survivors of domestic abuse are nearly three times more likely to suffer from mental ill health during their lifetime and have above-average rates of diabetes, heart disease and death.    

                      To register for the event in order to receive the Teams invitation, please contact: VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk

                      The purpose of the series is to provide a platform for academia, government and the voluntary and community sector that work to reduce and prevent violence to present their work / research to a wider audience. This is a multidisciplinary platform and we welcome speakers from across a variety of fields such as health, crime, policing, ethnicity, migration, sociology, social work, primary care, front line services, etc. If interested in presenting at a future Series webinar, please contact: VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk

                      The VISION/VASC Webinar Series is sponsored by the UK Prevention and Research Partnership consortium, Violence, Health and Society (MR-V049879) and the Violence and Society Centre at City, University of London.