SAD

Drop in binge-drinking may count for drop in violent crime) - More than 200,000 people in England and Wales needed medical treatment for injuries sustained following violence in 2013 according to a study conducted by Cardiff University.

The study gathered data from 117 emergency departments, minor injury units and walk-in centres and estimates that 234,509 people attended for treatment – 32,780 fewer than in 2012.

Lead author of the study and director of the violence and society research group at Cardiff University, Professor Jonathan Shepherd said that it shows another ‘significant year on year fall in serious violence across England and Wales’.

The reasons for the continuing falls in violent offences in many Western countries are not known, but a fall in binge-drinking and the removal from lead in petrol have been cited.