UK crime fell by 9% in 2002 (good news story)

[iain]

Worth a mention amongst the doom and gloom that the British Crime Survey shows crime in the UK fell by 9% in 2002. This is on top of substantial falls in previous years - crime levels have fallen consistently since 1995 in the UK.

There were falls in all areas of crime include violent crime and crime against property.

The chance of being a victim of crime in the UK remains lower than it has been at any time in the last 20 years.

BBC story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2916345.stm)

Interestingly, people's perception of crime is that it has increased. I don't know why that is (though I could take a few guesses).

[Soubrette]

Iain

We in Bristol have found this to be the case and there is a simple and obvious reason.

street crime in Bristol solves itself (http://www.thatbebristle.co.uk/news/0203/streetcrime.htm)

Sou

[Jon_in_london]

We all know that 'no news is good news'

ergo good news is no news.

Therefore this thread is a waste of time. Please delete.

;) :p :D

[iain]

Originally posted by Soubrette
Iain

We in Bristol have found this to be the case and there is a simple and obvious reason.

street crime in Bristol solves itself (http://www.thatbebristle.co.uk/news/0203/streetcrime.htm)

Sou :D :D :)

Edited to add I like the horoscope page too.

[Segnosaur]

Whenever you look at crime statistics, you should always keep population demographics in mind.

I can't say what has happened in Britian, but here in Canada, we've had general crime decreases. But, the average age of our population is also increasing, as is the portion of people who are middle age or elderly. And, as a group, older people are less likely to commit crimes. On the other hand, crimes committed by young people may have actually increased (but not enough to counteract the fact that they make up a smaller part of the population.)

Another thing which should be remembered is that in many cases, crime decreases because people change their lifestyle to avoid crime. Its well and good to say street crimes like muggings have decreased, but you have to wonder what part of that decrease is because people are just too afraid to go out.

[Michael Redman]

It's obvious that you in the UK are ignoring the gun ban. After all, a drop in crime must mean an increase in guns, if I'm to judge the issue on the volume of the rhetoric we see here. Good for you. Guns make people happy.

[corplinx]

We had a ten percent reduction in crime here in the US at some point during the nineties. They attributed it to an demographic flux of some kind.

In any case, less crime is good.

[iain]

Originally posted by corplinx
We had a ten percent reduction in crime here in the US at some point during the nineties. They attributed it to an demographic flux of some kind.

In any case, less crime is good. I've always thought that demographics and, in particular, the proportion of males aged 15-25, was one of the biggest factors in crime; but I don't know if demographic changes explains what is going in here.

According the British Crime Survey, which is normally seen as the most accurate guide, overall UK crime has fallen by over 40% since its peak in 1995.

I also noticed an error in my original posting : according to the BBC article the 9% drop is since 2000, so over 2 years rather than 1.