Crime: reality and perception

Ran across this interesting article in Prospect Magazine from the UK, on the shifting policing and perception of crime, violent and otherwise:

The consequence has been that violent crime—defined as actions which cause injury or serious threats to do so—has fallen steadily for about the last 15 years. The official statistics do not show a fall in violent crime when comparing offences now with those recorded before 2002-03—quite the opposite, in fact. This was because of a foolish agreement which attempted to make recorded crime a perfect representation of reality, so that a crime had to be recorded if reported even if the police officer did not believe it had happened. Moreover, the definition of violent crime was greatly widened, with the result that more than 50 per cent now falls into the category of—wait for it—”assault without injury.” It would be hard to conceive a more perfect weapon for opposition parties to beat a government with—as the then shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, unhappily showed during the election campaign. This is probably why the new government seems to be casting about for someone other than the home office to be in charge of crime statistics. Perhaps they will even give them back to the police.

In 2008-09, the annual murder rate in England and Wales was 651, lower than at any time in the past decade. Moreover, the number of children under 16 killed by strangers was two. In 2006, UN figures show that England and Wales had 16 murders per million population, far lower than the US at 59 and roughly equal to France, Canada, the Netherlands and Germany. (The figure for Colombia was 611.)

And yet the “broken Britain” mantra remains—not because we have become a more violent society, but because we have become a much more violence-averse society, in which such acts are widely reported and vilified.

It is interesting to see that contradiction exists in other countries besides the US. I know little about the state of television in the UK, but judging by this article it is safe to assume that the strains of the 24 hour news cycle exist there as well, forcing the media to turn every report of crime into a sensationalist warning that crime is on a meteoric rise.

It is also somewhat heartening – deflating? – to see that politicians are politicians the world over, especially when it comes to criminal justice policies.

There are many more interesting themes and points in the article. I recommend reading it all.