Reference: FOI-2024-1921
You asked
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please supply the numbers of people who have been injured, and died in England & Wales (please separate the differences between injuries and deaths and between England and Wales) as a result of strikes from objects fired from Crossbows between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2023 and if so, highlight whether the injuries or deaths were from deliberate strikes or suicides.
We said
Thank you for your request.
Mortality data
We are also responsible for the production of mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. This is driven by information collected from death certificates at death registration. We do not hold information on non-fatal injuries, you may be able to obtain this from NHS England.
All of the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). From all of these causes an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules.
The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as:
a) the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or\ b) the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury
There is no specific ICD-10 code for deaths involving strikes from a crossbow or other non-firearm range weapons. The ICD-10 codes which are potentially most applicable would be:
- W20 Struck by thrown, projected or falling object(s)
- W26 Contact with other sharp object(s)
- W26.8 Contact with other sharp objects not elsewhere classified
- X78 Intentional self-harm by sharp object
- X99 Assault by sharp object
The NOMIS webservice will provide data from 2013 to 2020 for 3 Digit ICD-10 codes, this would include deaths with an underlying cause as above. However, these are non-specific categories and we are unable to say which, if any, of these deaths were specifically attributed to crossbow strikes.
Crime data
We publish crime statistics from two main sources; the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and Home Office Police Recorded Crime, which concerns crime as it is experienced by victims or as it is recorded by the police. We have recently published data on Homicide in England and Wales which uses data from the Home Office Homicide Index. Worksheet 8 shows the of the number and percentages of offences that are currently recorded by homicide, broken down by sex of victim and apparent method of killing, including shooting. We do not hold further breakdowns of these data e.g., if the shooting was by crossbow.
We also publish data on offences involving the use weapons. Tables 5 shows the number of offences recorded by the police in which firearms were used and resulted in injury, broken down by principal weapon (air, non-air, and all) and degree of injury. However, these data do not include crossbows.
The Home Office are primarily responsible for the Homicide Index data and police recorded crime. Should you require further assistance, the Home Office can be contacted at the following email address: CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk.