ABSTRACT
The high-profile reporting of incidents of violence and the increased awareness of employers and employees of the risks at work have both positive and negative effects. In the 1980s the rise in the number of reported assaults of various kinds on employees in the course of their work outpaced the growth in violent crime in general. People very often overestimate the risk of crimes of violence. Similarly, the proportion of all crimes that involve violence is generally overestimated. The Home Office study and other similar work demonstrate that crimes of violence against the person represent only a small proportion of all crimes. In the year to June 1993 the police in England and Wales recorded 29 618 sexual offences, 0.5 per cent of the total of all crimes. The chance of an individual being a victim of violent crime is far less than the chance they have of being a victim of car crimes.
