You asked
I am looking at the link between social class and crime and whether in particular working class citizens are more predisposed to interactions with the law/justice system.
Do you know of any statistics within your organization that may help with this?
We said
Thank you for your request regarding crime social class and crime.
One of our primary sources of data within the Crime Statistics team is the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW). The CSEW, formerly known as the British Crime Survey (BCS), is a face-to-face victimisation survey in which people resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of a range of crimes in the 12 months prior to the interview. Respondents to the survey are also asked about their attitudes towards different crime-related issues, such as the police and the criminal justice system and perceptions of crime and anti-social behaviour. Due to the fact this is a victimisation survey, we only have information on those who have been victims of crime.
Alongside our quarterly publication Crime in England and Wales, we publish Annual Trend and Demographic Tables. These tables provide a demographic break down of victims of crime by certain characteristics such as, age, employment status, household income and output areas. Information on the demographic categories used can be found in the User Guide sections 7.1 and 7.2.
With regard to other interactions with the legal and justice systems, the Home Office and Ministry of Justice may be able to provide some suitable statistics on this topic. They can be contacted via the emails below:
Home Office: crimeandpolicestats@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Ministry of Justice: statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk
For future reference, you do not need to use a Freedom of Information request to ask for data. It is usually quicker to simply email us at CrimeStatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.