Introduction

To best make sense of interpersonal violence and address it, we need an accurate picture of the nature and scale of the problem. When asked about levels of violence in society, however, people consistently overestimate its prevalence and (often wrongly) perceive things to be getting worse – something commonly referred to as ‘the perception gap’ (see Roberts and Hough, 2005; Mohan et al, 2011). There are many potential causes of the perception gap, including sensationalist, agenda-driven media reporting (Peelo et al, 2004; Humphreys et al, 2019) and the ‘law of small numbers’ – people’s tendency to generalize from a small number of cases (Tversky and Kahneman, 1971). This is particularly important, given the political nature of interpersonal violence. Violence – and crime more generally – frequently dominates media, political and public discourse. Crudely put, money and political capital can be made from distorting the reality of violence and framing it in certain ways (something we discuss at length in Chapter 6).

This chapter provides an insight into the nature and scale of interpersonal violence based on the best available empirical data at the time of writing. We would like to stress that it is primarily descriptive. It presents an account of what violence looks like currently and historically, but it does not generally attempt to provide explanations for what is observed. As such, the chapter serves two main functions. First, it reveals key aspects and trends concerning interpersonal violence, which we hope readers will find interesting and useful in and of itself. And second, it provides an essential grounding for the arguments and analysis that we develop in the remainder of the book. The chapter is structured is as follows:

• • We begin by outlining the different data sources drawn upon in this chapter, discussing their main strengths and limitations.

• • Next, we explore what violence looks like at a national level in England and Wales.

• • Finally, as much of this book focuses on England’s capital city, we provide a more detailed insight into interpersonal violence in London.