Antisocial behavior was witnessed or experienced by nearly 41 percent of people in England and Wales in the year leading up to March, a notable increase from approximately one-third in the preceding 12 months. Concurrently, household thefts surged by over 21 percent, reaching around 791,000 incidents, largely driven by an increase in items stolen from outside residences.
Parcel theft is identified as a likely contributing factor to this rise, as criminals increasingly target packages left unattended on doorsteps. Police-recorded crime figures also indicate a 4 percent increase in sexual offenses during the same period.
In contrast, other crime categories showed positive trends. Homicides decreased by 7 percent to 499 incidents, and both knife offenses and gun crime saw reductions of 8 percent. Specifically, 176 knife homicides were recorded in 2025/26, a 14 percent drop from the previous year and the lowest figure in 35 years. The overall homicide total reached its lowest point this century, aided by the decrease in knife-related killings, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
Crime and policing minister Sarah Jones stated that these figures demonstrate the government's efforts to address crime, though she acknowledged ongoing public concern about street crime. She noted a 4 percent year-on-year decrease in police-recorded shoplifting offenses, attributing the progress to treating retail crime with greater seriousness, with charges up 19 percent in the last year. However, police-recorded shoplifting remains higher than in 2023/24, with over half a million offenses recorded last year.
The ONS highlighted that shoplifting reporting rates are known to be low and that police are encouraging increased reporting and submission of evidence like CCTV. A change in how certain offenses are recorded may also influence the figures. A Home Office clarification in April 2025 directed forces to record incidents involving theft from a retail premises combined with the use or threat of violence against staff as robbery of business property, not shoplifting. This reclassification may account for a near doubling of offenses categorized as robbery of businesses, from 15,546 in 2024/25 to 29,669 in 2025/26.
Overall, police forces recorded 5.24 million offenses in England and Wales in 2025/26, excluding fraud and computer misuse, a 1 percent decrease from the previous year. This figure is slightly below the pre-pandemic level of 5.30 million in 2019/20 but is up from 3.90 million in 2015/16. The ONS cautioned that police-recorded crime is not considered a reliable indicator of overall crime trends due to improvements in recording standards over the past decade.
In response to the rise in antisocial behavior, Ms. Jones pointed to the national rollout of 'Respect Orders,' a new measure intended to curb such conduct. These civil court orders, applicable to adults, carry a maximum two-year sentence for breaches, unlike the broader 'Asbos' previously in place.
Marcus Johnstone, a sex crimes specialist, was not surprised by the increase in reported sex offenses, suggesting it reflects a greater willingness among victims to come forward. Separate ONS Crime Survey data for England and Wales indicated that individuals aged 16 and over experienced 9.62 million crime incidents in 2025/26, a figure statistically unchanged from the previous year and 14 percent lower than in 2016/17.
The Crime Survey, which is unaffected by police reporting or recording changes, covers personal and household victim-based crimes but excludes sexual offenses, stalking, harassment, and domestic abuse. Billy Gazard of the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice noted that while the survey shows a relatively stable overall picture, there has been an increase in theft from outside homes and fraud reports, alongside more reported experiences of antisocial behavior. He reiterated that homicides and knife homicides are at their lowest levels this century, gun crime is at decade-old levels, and knife crime is below pre-pandemic figures.