UK crime statistics glossary
Plain-English definitions for 24 terms used across CrimeRate. Each definition explains what the term measures, what it does not prove and where to find the relevant evidence.
Start with the unit being counted
Crime records, arrests, convictions and prison populations describe different events or people. A useful answer keeps the measure, geography, period and denominator together.
Crime records and statistical measures
Police-recorded crime
Offences recorded by police under the counting rules in force. The total does not include every crime people experience because some incidents are never reported or recorded.
Use this term in context →Street-level crime record
A published monthly record with a broad offence group and a privacy-protected location. It is not a court file, an exact address or proof that a named person committed an offence.
Use this term in context →Crime Survey for England and Wales
A household survey that estimates experiences of selected crimes, including incidents that were not reported to police. Its sampled population and offence coverage differ from police records.
Use this term in context →Offence group
A statistical category used to organise records. One group can contain several specific legal offences, so a map category must not be treated as the charge used in court.
Use this term in context →Published outcome
The administrative outcome label supplied with a crime record. It may describe an investigation or disposal, but it is not automatically a conviction or sentence.
Use this term in context →Homicide
The broad statistical term used in the national series for offences that resulted in death. It covers more than murder alone, which is why the published homicide total cannot be labelled as a murder count.
Use this term in context →Murder
A specific common-law offence with its own legal elements. CrimeRate keeps the legal definition separate from the broader national homicide statistics.
Use this term in context →Criminal-justice stages
Arrest
The use of a police power to detain a person on suspicion. An arrest is not a finding of guilt and does not mean that a charge or conviction followed.
Use this term in context →Charge
The formal allegation that a person committed a particular offence. A charge is more specific than a broad map category and still does not establish guilt.
Use this term in context →Conviction
A court outcome following a guilty plea or finding of guilt. Conviction tables measure a later justice stage than arrest or police-recorded crime tables.
Use this term in context →Custody snapshot
A count of people held on one date. It reflects remand, sentence length, release and recall, so it must not be presented as a count of crimes committed during one year.
Use this term in context →Maximum sentence
The legal ceiling available for an offence. It is not the usual sentence and does not predict the outcome of an individual case.
Use this term in context →Sentencing guideline range
A range used after the court identifies the applicable guideline, offence category and relevant facts. Aggravating, mitigating and other legal factors can change the result.
Use this term in context →MAPPA
Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements used by police, probation and prisons to manage specified people in the community. Area totals do not identify a person or household.
Use this term in context →Sexual Harm Prevention Order
A court order that can impose prohibitions or positive requirements to protect the public from sexual harm. SHPO is the standard abbreviation.
Use this term in context →Places, comparisons and coverage
Anonymised map point
A nearby published location used to protect privacy. Several records can share the point, and it must not be described as an exact crime scene or residential address.
Use this term in context →Postcode district
The outward part of a postcode, such as UB8 or SE1. It is a postal geography rather than an official statistical area, so CrimeRate reports counts instead of a population rate for it.
Use this term in context →Lower layer Super Output Area
A small official statistical area used for population and neighbourhood data in England and Wales. It is commonly shortened to LSOA.
Use this term in context →Local authority
A defined administrative area used by the crime rankings. Using one boundary system avoids inventing inconsistent city boundaries.
Use this term in context →Crime count
The number of published records matching a stated category, place and period. Counts show volume but do not adjust for the population or exposure of an area.
Use this term in context →Crime rate
A crime count divided by a stated denominator for the same geography and period. CrimeRate's local-authority rankings show rates per 1,000 residents alongside raw counts.
Use this term in context →Denominator
The population or exposure measure used beneath a rate. Residents may be a poor denominator for stations, retail centres or nightlife areas with many visitors.
Use this term in context →Coverage gap
A place or period missing from the source data. Missing records must not be treated as zero crime; Greater Manchester is excluded from current map rankings for this reason.
Use this term in context →Reference period
The month, year or date to which a statistic relates. It differs from the date when the file was downloaded, reviewed or displayed on the site.
Use this term in context →Move from a definition to evidence
Use the glossary to check the language, then open the source, method or tool that answers the actual question.