Recent falling crime rate

Young (2011) - aetiological crisis part 2!

• Crime is no longer a major threat, which realism is struggling to explain

• Crime is a social construction and therefore is still seen as a threat

Crime Survey for 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (2019) - % of people that thought crime has increased over the last 10 years

• 81

• It’s actually decreased

ONS (2023)- % of people in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿that think crime has increased

75

Crime Survey for 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (2024) - % by which violence, burglary and car crime has decreased over the last 30 years

Almost 90

ONS (2023) - crime beack and low

• Peak: 1995

• All-time low: 2023

ONS (2023) - 3 reasons for all-time low + types of crime it’s decreased

1. Vehicle electronic immobilisers

2. More household security

3. Increased security in public

• Fewer teenage-committed crimes

• Fewer criminal careers

Crime Survey for 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (2024) - types of crime that are increasing

• Fraud

• Computer misuse

• General cybercrime

• Due to increase in opportunities, skills and rewards

YouGov - years in which there were spikes in public fear of crime

• 2012, 2019

• Little fear of crime in 2016 and 2020 due to other fears (Brexit, COVID)

4 causes of unreasonable fear of crime

1. TV

2. Newspapers

3. Media (skewed reporting)

4. Political rhetoric

Key policies regarding anti-social behaviour

• 1998 - ASBOs

• 2015 - IPNAs

3 key features of the increasing anti-social behaviour rate

1. Blurred boundaries of crime

• Turned incivilities → crime, which in turn creates more crime

  • E.g. breaching an ASBO was a crime

2. Has a subjective definition

3. Flexibility

• Became used against anything and was constantly widened

  • Created endless infringements