10% Commit 50% of All Crime
From 2000 to 2021, a remarkably small proportion of offenders was responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime. Just 10% of offenders, representing over half a million individuals across these two decades, committed at least 16 offences each. This relatively small group of prolific offenders accounted for half of all crimesduring this period, highlighting the concentrated nature of criminal activity among repeat offenders.
This pattern is particularly pronounced in theft offences, where career criminals dominate the statistics. The disparity becomes stark when examining prison sentences for theft: for every 2 offenders with no prior convictions or cautions who receive prison terms, there are 73 offenders with at least 15 previous convictionsbeing sentenced. This demonstrates how theft crimes are overwhelmingly committed by individuals with extensive criminal histories rather than first-time offenders.
The trend of repeat offending extends to weapon-related crimes as well. In 2024, approximately 40% of adults who received cautions or convictions for knife possession had previously been cautioned or convicted for the same specific offence. This suggests that a significant portion of knife crime involves individuals who have already been through the justice system for similar violations, indicating patterns of persistent criminal behavior across different types of offences.
But the state is failing to act - and these career criminals are repeatedly avoiding prison:
From 2007-2018
Failure to imprison these career criminals leaves British streets increasingly dangerous. When in prison, career criminals are unable to put the wider public at risk. When just seven members of a bike theft gang in the City of London were arrested and imprisoned in 2020, the number of bike thefts in the City of London fell by 90%. In addition, when the focussed efforts of police in Hemel Hempstead culminated in the arrests of several career criminals, police reports in the area declined by 72%. The same phenomenon was observed when Barnsley police arrested 7 prolific burglars which resulted in a 64% reduction in the number of homes burgled in Goldthorpe over a 6 month period. The most prolific phone thief in London is likely responsible for thousands of phone thefts a year.
Similarly, in New York, nearly a third of all shoplifting arrests in 2022 involved just 327 people. Collectively, these people were arrested more than 6000 times. A study of Sweden's multi-generational register found that 1% of the total population were responsible for 63% of violent crime ( 3+ violent crime convictions per criminal), and 0.1% were responsible for 19.8% of violent crime ( 11+ violent crime convictions per criminal).
In Britain, these career criminals are driving up the cost of living, terrorising our streets and consistently avoiding prison. If these individuals were imprisoned for their offences for commensurate lengths of time, Britain could essentially eradicate a vast swathe of crime overnight. Our streets would be safer, and crime would no longer pay.
We must change direction to crush the growth in multiple crimes that are spreading like an epidemic across Britain:
Shoplifting increased by 20% in 2024, to an all-time-high of over 500,000 crimes (but rates of reporting in shoplifting are suspected to be extremely low thus the number is likely much higher), leading to supermarkets introducing security mesh over products, security boxes on chocolate, robot cameraspatrolling the aisles and installing 4ft smoke machines to deter criminals at night.
Phone thefts have increased 150%; with 104,017 cases of phone theft recorded by the Metropolitan police from January 2023 to January 2024. Robbery has increased by nearly 10%.
Theft from the person offences were at their highest level in 2024 (over 150,000 offences) since current police recording practices began in 2003.
In 2024 the Metropolitan Police recorded around 46 knife crimes a day; an increase of 16% from the previous year.
Three murders or major sex crimes are committed every week by offenders on probation
Career Offenders
Multiple career offenders are repeatedly avoiding jail, and even when they are sentenced after multiple offences and convictions, they're often given lax sentences that don't match the level of societal harm they cause and will likely continue to cause.
76 previous offences, 34 previous convictions (including burglary, robbery, shoplifting, assaults, battery and drug possession). Charged for carrying a blade and resisting a police officer. Hill received a deferred sentence for five months. This was cut to three-month suspended sentence at a following hearing. However, neither prosecution nor Hill informed the judge Hill had committed both shoplifting and drug offences between these two hearings. Following this, Hill again avoided jail - having to pay £200 compensation to the officer he injured and undertake 25 days rehab with a 12 months community order.
The respondent was sentenced to less than four years (3 years 10 months) for rape despite having 114 previous convictions including dishonesty, burglary, and two offences of violence. The judges deemed all previous convictions not relevant
499 offences and 172 convictions - she has been banned from the majority of shops in the North East and she has taken to wearing disguises. She has served only half her sentences and was recently released back onto the streets, after a brief three month sentence for contempt of court.
More than 300 previous offences, more than half for theft. Phillips pleaded guilty to two charges of theft from cars, avoided jail with a 42 week prison sentence suspended for 12 months.
within days of being released from prison after receiving just 12 weeks for battery and a public order offence, received just a conditional discharge for his 304th offence. Within days he had shoplifted again and was re-arrested, he was given six weeks jail for each of his most recent theft offences.
226 offences, 96 convictions. In preference to sectioning or imprisonment, he has been repeatedly released - and able to terrorise the public, and more specifically, NHS staff. He has recently been re-arrested following an assault on a doctor and lighting a fire in a hospital toilet causing an evacuation of the A&E at Royal Hospital, Halifax. He has been sentenced to 4 years, and is therefore likely out in less than 3.
How Does Your Constituency Rank for Crime?
Crime isn't distributed equally across Britain. Discover where your area ranks for shoplifting, phone theft, knife crime, and more. See which constituencies are safest – and which are crime hotspots that politicians can no longer ignore. *Made by our friends at CrimeSpotlight.