Numbers of women in crime shoots up

More women turned to crime last year compared to 2017, a Government survey has shown.

Last year, the number of female offenders recorded by police rose by 9.8 per cent to 15,221, according to 2019 Economic Survey released last week. And you were more likely to encounter a female offender in Kiambu, Nairobi and Meru, which had the highest numbers. 

Assault, creating disturbance and possession of dangerous drugs were among the crimes that saw a significant increase in the number of female offenders.

Kiambu, Nairobi and Meru counties also accounted for the highest share of crimes reported last year, which recorded a surge in crime. 

During the period, the total number of crimes reported to police increased by 13.2 per cent to 88,268. Male suspects were the majority.

And Kakamega recorded the highest increase in the number of suspects reported to have committed crime last year.

The number of suspects reported to have committed crime in Kakamega increased five times, which saw the county named as the region with the highest increase. The number rose from 780 in 2017 to 3,727 persons in 2018.

Kiambu figures

Kiambu police command station had the highest number of persons reported to have committed crime, accounting for 8.4 per cent of total crimes reported, followed by Nairobi and Meru, which accounted for 8.3 per cent and 6.0 per cent, respectively, in 2018.

Of the 71,421, there were 13,857 female offenders in 2017, compared to 16,499 of 75,007 of 2016 and 14,574 female of the 70,515 of 2015.

Statistics captured in the 2019 Economic Survey indicate the highest increase in the number of persons reported to have committed crime was recorded in Kakamega police command station, with the number rising from 780 persons in 2017 to 3,727 persons in 2018.

Similarly, the number of persons reported to have committed crime in Migori more than tripled from 409 persons in 2017 to 1,477 persons in 2018.

Bomet, Mandera and Garissa counties recorded the largest declines in the number of persons reported to have committed crimes at 90.9, 83.4 and 62.1 per cent, respectively, during the year under review.

Kiambu, Meru and Nairobi had the highest number of women offenders last year of those recorded. In Kiambu, there were 2,175 female offenders last year, 1,575 in 2017 and 1,235 in 2016.

In Meru, there were 1,443 female offenders in 2018, 1,113 in 2017 and 1,134 in 2016, while in Nairobi there were 1,325 female offenders last year, 1,285 in 2017 and 1,646 in 2016.

Overall, Kiambu had the highest number of persons reported to have committed crime, followed by Nairobi and Meru.

In Kiambu, 6,300 offenders were recorded last year, as compared to 5,348 of 2017 and 4,942 of 2016, while in Nairobi, there were 6,212 in 2018 compared to 5,627 of 2017 and 6,227 of 2016.

In Meru, there were 4,536 offenders last year, as compared to 4,885 of 2017 and 5,473 of 2016.

Nairobi City police command station registered the highest share of all crimes reported at 8.1 per cent followed by Kiambu and Meru police command stations at 7.9 per cent and 6.4 per cent, respectively, in 2018.

There were 7,128 crimes reported in Nairobi in 2018 compared to 7,434 in 2017, while in Kiambu, there were 6,932 crimes last year, compared to 5,603 of 2017. Meru had 5,689 crimes in 2018, compared to 2017’s 5,151 crimes.

Wajir police command station recorded the highest percentage increase in crimes reported to police of 56.2 per cent in 2018. Other command stations that recorded high increases in reported crimes were Kilifi, Bomet and Isiolo, which registered 49.2, 40.6 and 39.4 per cent, respectively.

During the review period, Mandera police command station recorded a 24.4 per cent decrease in the number of crimes reported from 446 in 2017 to 337 in 2018, while Turkana police command station registered a decline of 10.4 per cent in the number of crimes reported to the police from 1,092 of 2017 to 978 of 2018.

The total number of crimes reported to the police increased by 13.2 per cent from 77,992 in 2017 to 88,268 in 2018. There were 76,986 crimes in 2016 and 72,490 in 2015.

In the same period, crimes reported to the police, involving dangerous drugs increased by 44.1 per cent from 5,565 cases in 2017 to 8,021 last year, compared to 6,160 in 2016.

There were 921 cases of rape that were reported last year, of which 875 were male as compared to 784 of 2017 of which 694 were male and 923 of 2016 of which 750 were male.

More males were defiled last year as compared to those of previous years. The statistics show 4,767 children were defiled last year, of which 4,494 were male, compare to 3,487 cases of 2017 out of which 3,252 were male and 4,512 of 2016, of which 3,956 were male.

A total 71 cases of sodomy were reported in 2018, as compared to 107 of 2017 and 81 of 2016. There were 52 cases of abduction recorded last year as compared to 138 of 2017 and 53 of 2016.

There were 1,312 cases of murder in 2018, compared to 1,435 of 2017 and 1,439 in 2016, while suicide decreased to 177, compared to 421 in 2017 and 302 in 2016.

Cases of robbery stood at 2,675 in 2018, compared to 2,509 of 2017 and 2,571 of 2016.

The overall prison population increased by 7.5 per cent to 223,718 persons last year. In the same period, the daily average prison population increased by 9.9 per cent to 53,765 persons.

The total convicted prison population increased by 4.3 per cent from 80,404 persons in 2017 to 83,896 persons in 2018, while those remanded increased by 9.4 per cent to 139,822 persons during the same period.

Corruption reports

According to the statistics, the number of corruption reports referred for investigation declined by 22.4 per cent to 2,898 in the 2017/18 year.

However, the total number of ethics and corruption reports forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) increased from 143 in 2016/17 to 183 in 2017/18.

The value of assets recovered by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission was Sh3.8 billion in the same period, while a total 527 crimes were reported to the National Environment Management Authority in 2018, out of which 328 were related to illegal movement or dumping of waste.

The number of cases filed in courts increased by 16.9 per cent to 402,243 in 2018.

Similarly, the number of pending cases increased by 5.9 per cent to 571,094 over the same period. In addition, the number of cases disposed of by courts increased by 21.8 per cent to 370,488 cases.