Glad you put the "usual disclaimers" thing in.
A little investigation (of wheelgun's sources) shows that
US definition of violent crimes (which are counted in the figures) are
link1
- Murder & Non-negligent manslaughter
- Forcible rape
- Robbery
- Aggravated assault
UK definitions include
link2
- Common Assault
- Wounding
- Robbery
- Snatch theft
All sources are from original link provided by Derek.
Some interesting points
link from section 5.
- The majority of recorded violent crimes were other offences against the person, the least serious grouping (84 per cent of violent crime in 2005/06).
- There were 765 homicides in 2005/06, a decrease of 12 per cent from the previous year. The homicide figure of 765 includes 52 homicide victims of the 7 July London bombings.
Violent crime is a very diverse crime grouping
. It contains the full spectrum of assaults, from murder to pushing and shoving that result in no physical harm, as well as sexual offences and robbery. In addition, the degree of violence varies considerably between incidents even within the same crime classification. A large proportion of violence results in no injury (see Section 5.5).
From Section 5.5
In just under half (49%) of all BCS violent incidents there was no injury (BCS 2005/06).
This has remained stable since 2004/05 interviews (46%; the apparent difference is not statistically significant). The majority of robberies (64%) and common assaults (62%) reported to the 2005/06 BCS involved no injury (Table 5.02).
There was also no injury in at least 47 per cent of all recorded violence against the person in 2005/062 (Table 2.04).
The most common injuries incurred in BCS-reported violence were minor bruising or a black eye (30% of incidents). Seventeen per cent of incidents resulted in severe bruising, 11 per cent in cuts and ten per cent in scratches.