ABSTRACT
As shown in Figure IV.1, burglary and vehicle crime (the subjects of Chapters 16 and 17) together came to account for just over half of all recorded crime in England and Wales in the early to mid-1990s, though the proportion has now fallen to about a third. The high share of burglary and vehicle crime largely explain the attention devoted to them. Such systematic research as there has been on patterns of business victimization suggests much higher rates of crime against businesses than those found against households and individuals. Hence crime against business is the focus of Chapter 18. Though it is much more common than would be suggested from recorded crime statistics, it is the seriousness of violent and sexual crime that explains the widespread preventive attention given to it (see Chapter 19). Drug and alcohol misuse, and illicit drug trafficking, comprise, of course, problems in themselves. They have equally been a focus of attention because of the crime and disorder problems associated with them. They are discussed in Chapter 20. Finally, it is not just crime itself that has concerned policy-makers and practitioners. The fear of crime (Chapter 21) has been identified as a significant, separate and distinctive problem warranting interventions focused on it alone.
