Public Security Reports Third Quarter Crime Statistics

July 26, 2006

A Legal Daily report details third-quarter crime statistics released by China's public security ministry (MPS) this week. According to these official statistics, public security filed a total of 1,191,000 criminal cases in the third quarter of this year, a decline of 0.3% over last year. Property crimes account for 85% of the total. MPS claims that the number of murder and rape cases filed are down 1.3% and 9.6%, respectively, over the same period last year, while fraud and burglary are down 5.2% and 0.6%, respectively. However, the number of public order cases investigated by public security is reportedly up 17%.

Because the statistics provided are only for filed cases, the decreases cited by the MPS this week could reflect factors other than a decrease in crime on the ground. As noted in the criminal justice section of the 2004 CECC Annual Report, many regions in China have reported sharp increases in crime in the last year. Public security officials recently admitted that only about 42% of the 4.39 million crimes filed in 2003 were solved.