The decline in the rate of domestic violence has stopped: removing the cap on repeat victimisation reveals more violence

The decline in the rate of domestic violence since the mid-1990s has stopped, although violent crime by other perpetrators is still falling• The most reliable data on domestic violence is from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), rather than police recorded crime since there is no statutory category of domestic violence• Official published CSEW data ‘caps’ the maximum number of incidents in a series at 5, so further recorded incidents are not included in official estimates• Analysis of CSEW finds that when the cap is removed there are 60% more violent crimes.• The increase due to removing the cap is concentrated on violent crime against women (70% increase) rather than men (50% increase) and on violent crime by domestic relations (70% increase) and acquaintances (100% increase) rather than by strangers (20% increase).