ABSTRACT
The past fifty years have witnessed a massive expansion in the importance - both relative and absolute - of fraud within the crimin al justice process. Frauds now comprise some 4*7 per cent of all recorded indictable crime in England and Wales, compared with a mere 0-5 per cent in 1928. During the last decade, this trend has accelerated. Between 1968 and 1978, convictions for fraud in the higher courts rose by 230 per cent, while the amount of money involved in frauds handled by the London Metropolitan and City Police Fraud Squad increased tenfold to approximately £ 300 million per annum. During 1980, the latter figure rose to £400 million.
