The line graph illustrates the rate of three crimes that were committed in England and Wales from 1970 to 2005.
Overall, all crime fields experienced growth with car theft registering a significant increase, while more moderate rises occurred in house burglary and street robbery over the period.
With a steady rise from 0.4 million to one million in the first decade, car theft continued to increase sharply to a staggering 1.6 million in 1985. It was followed by a gradual decrease to 1.4 million in 1990, a figure that then hit a trough of one million by the end of the period, despite maintaining its dominance.
In contrast, the other two crime areas followed similar patterns, albeit at lower rates. After a sharp increase from 0.2 million to 0.6 million in the first five years, house burglary rates stabilized at the same level by the following decade. This figure, subsequently, reached a high of nearly 0.58 million in 1990, after which it fluctuated, and fell to a low of 0.4 million in the final year. while remaining the least popular crime area, street robbery showed 20-year of stability at zero, which increased to 0.2 million in 1995, and remained unchanged by the end of the period.