26/4/2007

Cardiff University researchers say serious violence-related injuries fell by 2% in England and Wales last year, despite the change in pub opening hours. Because of CCTV, police are intervening earlier and fewer people are seriously hurt.

The annual annual violence study, by the University Violence Research Group, is the first complete set of data since the licensing laws changed in November 2005. The law change triggered fears that longer opening hours would see a rise in street violence.

But the Cardiff researchers found that approximately 6,000 fewer people needed hospital treatment for violence injuries than in 2005.

The Cardiff researchers analysed data for 2006 from 33 Accident and Emergency departments across England and Wales. The 2% fall is less dramatic than in previous years and the figure for violence against men was unchanged. However, there was a sharp 8% drop in the number of female victims.

As in previous years, the study found violence rates were highest at weekends. There were more incidents between April and October, peaking in July.

The Research Group study was set up to complement official Home Office statistics (also published today). The Cardiff study has shown a consistent fall in the number of assault victims since 2000, while violent incidents recorded by the police have risen.

Professor Jonathan Shepherd, director of the Violence Research Group, said: *It seems likely that street CCTV and better targeted patrols mean that police are getting to fights more often and
earlier. This would explain why incident numbers are up and injuries are down. Police are intervening before anyone is seriously hurt. This illustrates the increasing injury prevention
benefits of CCTV and targeted police activity in city centres.

*We estimate that some 364,000 people needed hospital treatment for assaults last year. That is still too many, but it is encouraging to see that the trend is downwards and that
the feared effect of the licensing law change has not materialised.*