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Homicide in England and Wales: year ending March 2022
February 2023
Summary
Homicide returned to pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels, with 696 victims in the latest year; this is 130 more (a 23% increase) than the year ending March 2021 when government restrictions meant there was less social contact.
The homicide rate was 11.7 per million population, with the rate for males (16.9 per million population) more than twice that for females (6.6 per million population).
The homicide rate over the three-year period to the year ending March 2022 was 39.7 per million population for the Black ethnic group, approximately four times higher than for the White ethnic group (8.9 per million population).
Approximately 4 in 10 homicides were committed using a knife or sharp instrument (282 homicides); a 19% increase compared with the previous year, and the highest annual total since the Homicide Index began in 1946 (similar to the previous high of 281 in the year ending March 2018).
There were 69 homicides victims aged 13 to 19 years, of these, 51 were killed by a knife or sharp instrument.
There were 134 domestic homicides in the year ending March 2022, 18 more than the previous year, and a similar number to the average over the last decade (129).
Males accounted for 72% of homicide victims in the latest year, but 93% of convicted suspects.
Specifically, the report said that the number of people killed with a knife in 2021/22 was the highest on record for 76 years, a 19% rise compared with the previous year and the highest annual total since records began in 1946.
