Official street-level crime archive
The bulk archive supplies monthly map records. Locations are approximate and dates are month-only.
Best useExplore published local records and outcomes on the UK crime map, subject to force coverage.
Official crime data sources
What we use, what each source can answer, and the limitation that must stay beside the result.
Ten source groups, each with a different job
No single dataset is “the crime number”. CrimeRate matches the source to the question before it displays a figure.
Office for National Statistics
ONS publishes the Crime Survey for England and Wales, recorded-crime bulletins, homicide analysis and methods.
Best useCheck national trends, compare sources and support the murder statistics report.
ONS Census 2021 through Nomis
The API supplies small-area age, sex and broad ethnic-group counts. Census facts describe residents in an area, not a person linked to a crime.
Best useAdd population context to local patterns without claiming cause.
Criminal-justice demographic statistics
Home Office and Ministry of Justice tables cover arrests, court outcomes and prison populations. Each table uses its own people, period and missing-data rule.
Best useRead the crime and demographics guide without treating arrest, conviction and custody as the same event.
Home Office immigration system tables
These tables cover arrival routes, asylum, detention, returns and foreign national offenders. They do not provide a national crime breakdown by asylum status or arrival route.
Best useAnswer immigration-system questions on the immigration statistics page.
data.gov.uk
This is the UK public-data catalogue and a route into publisher and licence information.
Best useDiscover a dataset and confirm who publishes it.
Postcodes.io and the ONS Postcode Directory
These sources provide approximate postcode centres and current postcode references. They do not supply crime records.
Best useCentre a radius search and group anonymous points for postcode-district reports.
Legislation.gov.uk
The official service publishes current and historical UK legislation. A broad map category may cover more than one statutory offence.
Best useCheck the wording, version and extent behind a reviewed UK law guide.
Sentencing Council
The Council publishes sentencing guidelines for courts in England and Wales.
Best useExplain why a statutory maximum is not the usual sentence.
Open Government Licence v3.0
The licence sets reuse terms for eligible public-sector information. A source may state an exception.
Best useCheck attribution and reuse terms before republishing data.
Match the question to the source
Start with the claim you want to make. Then open the source that measures it directly.
| Question | Start here | What to keep visible |
|---|---|---|
| What was published near a place? | Street-level crime map | Source month, approximate location and coverage |
| How do defined areas compare? | Local-authority rankings | Offence, period, denominator and missing forces |
| What is the national trend? | National crime reports | Official series, population and reference period |
| What does an offence mean in law? | Reviewed offence guides | Jurisdiction, provision, date and sentencing source |
How CrimeRate processes the evidence
Provenance is only the first check
The register identifies the publisher. The methodology explains ingestion, deduplication, anonymised geography, coverage gaps and the rules used before a figure is published. Use the CrimeRate site map to browse every public evidence section and reviewed report.
Read the crime-data methodology