Teenage homicides 14/2022
FOI Reference: 14/2022
Request:
Q1. In one Excel spreadsheet can I please have a breakdown of the ages of teenage homicide victims (13-19) in each of the calendar years 2020 and 2021?
Q2. Can I please have a breakdown of teenage perpetrators (13-19) at the time the homicide offence (murder or manslaughter) was committed in each of the calendar years 2020 and 2021.
Clarification requested:
With regards to teenage perpetrators, is this only in relation to the homicides in Q1 whereby the victim was also a teenager, or does Q2 require all homicides committed by teenagers, regardless of the age of the victim?
Clarification received:
Thank you for your query. Q2 relates to all homicides committed by teenagers, regardless of the age of the victim.
Response 1:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, however we are exempting part of that information as we believe that the following exemptions are relevant as detailed below and explained at the end of this response:
Section 30(1)(a) Investigations and Proceedings conducted by Public Authorities
Teenage homicide 2020 – 2021
|
Year |
Age 18 |
|
2021 |
1 |
Section 30 Exemption Applied x 1
*Where there is no age in the table, there have been 0 (zero) homicide victims within the time frame requested.
Response 2:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does not hold the information requested as there have been 0 (zero) homicides committed by teenagers for calendar years 2020 and 2021:
Explanation of the applied exemptions:
Section 30(1)(a) Investigations and Proceedings conducted by Public Authorities:
- Information held by a public authority is exempt information if it has at any time been held by the authority for the purposes of –
- Any investigation which the public authority has a duty to conduct with a view to it being ascertained (i) whether a person should be charged with an offence, or (ii) whether a person charged with an offence is guilty of it.
Section 30(1)(a) is a class-based qualified exemption. This means that the legislators when writing the legislation considered that the release of such information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would cause harm to the public authority or individual concerned. There is therefore no requirement to carry out a HARM Test in respect of such information. However there is a requirement to carry out a Public Interest Test in order to establish whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption may be outweighed by a wider public benefit in disclosure.
Public Interest Test
Considerations favouring disclosure:
Disclosure of the information would improve the public’s knowledge and awareness regarding the frequency of such crimes.
Considerations favouring non-disclosure:
This exemption covers information held at any time for the purpose of an investigation, whether the case is ongoing, closed or abandoned. To release details of an ongoing investigation, as in this case, could undermine and prejudice those investigations. This would impact on the forces’ future law enforcement capabilities by hindering the prevention or detection of crime.
Balancing Test
After considering the advantages and disadvantages in disclosure, it falls upon Dyfed-Powys Police to conduct a balance test on the issues. The strongest argument for disclosure, which is public awareness, needs to be weighed against the strongest arguments for non-disclosure, which in this case is that the release would undermine and prejudice an ongoing investigation, which would impact on the forces’ future law enforcement capabilities by hindering the prevention or detection of crime.
Therefore, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
It should be noted that as a result of the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such information that the information released may or may not be accurate.
Furthermore, it should also be noted that Police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the crime data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force's response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.
This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act and disclosed on the 20th January 2022.