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There were *** homicides for every million people in England and Wales in 2024/25, compared with *** in Scotland and *** in Northern Ireland. During this time period, the homicide rate for Scotland has declined substantially. From 2003/04 to 2013/14, Scotland had the highest homicide rate among UK jurisdictions, with a peak of ** homicides per million people recorded in 2004/05.

Uptick in violent crimes since the mid-2010s

In 2002/03, there were homicides in England and Wales, but by 2013/14, this had fallen to just ***, with similar declines also evident in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Unlike in the latter two jurisdictions, however, there was a noticeable uptick in homicides in England and Wales from 2016/17 onwards, with *** recorded in 2019/20. Additionally, there has been a surge in violence against the person offences in England and Wales, rising from around ** in 2012/13 to more than * ten years later in 2022/23. It is unclear what exactly is driving this trend, but in an attempt to reverse it, the UK government has started to increase the manpower ²¹²Ô»åÌýfunding available to UK police forces after several years of cuts. 

Struggles of the UK justice system

Recent boosts to police funding come after almost a decade of austerity was imposed on most public services. Although some government departments were protected from this, the Ministry of Justice saw its budget decline from *** billion pounds in 2009/10 to just **** billion pounds in 2015/16. Although the Justice Budget has also increased recently, there are several signs that the system as a whole is under pressure. There is a significant backlog of cases at Crown Courts in England and Wales, with serious offences taking an average of almost** to pass through the court system. Meanwhile, prisons are struggling with severe capacity issues along with upticks in violence and self-harm.