Home Office

The British Crime Survey (BCS) is one of the largest social surveys conducted in Britain. It is primarily a 'victimisation' survey, in which respondents are asked about the experiences of property crimes of the household (e.g. burglary) and personal crimes (e.g. theft from the person) which they themselves have experienced. The reference period to which these questions relate is from the first of January in the calendar year preceding the BCS, up to the date of interview.

The BCS includes crimes that are not reported to the police, so it is an important alternative to police records. The scope of the BCS goes well beyond the counting of criminal incidents, although it is for this estimate that it has become established as a definitive source of information. The BCS helps to identify those most at risk of different types of crime, and this helps in the planning of crime prevention programmes.

It has also been successful at developing special measures to estimate the extent of domestic violence, stalking and sexual victimisation, which are probably the least-reported to the police.

The BCS has been carried out in England and Wales in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000. It is conducted annually from 2001 onwards. The data is collected for the Home Office by the National Centre for Social Research. The UK Data Archive also holds data from Scotland for 1982, 1993, 1996 and 1998.

A parallel survey in Northern Ireland in 1994 is not currently held at the UK Data Archive.

From the guide to the British Crime Survey, 1982-, 1982- [ongoing], (UK Data Archive)