The author examines many apparent contradictions regarding criminal victimization and fear. Sensitivity to risk and to perceived seriousness of various types of crime are discussed as explanations of such contradictions. The chapter extends its analysis by studying public conceptions of appropriate punishment for crime. It finds that desired levels of punishment are structured by more than one theory of punishment. It also finds that Americans inaccurately perceive the penalties currently assigned to various crimes. Potential problems in linking actual punishment to public notions of what punishment should be are identified. The second half of the chapter investigates media coverage of crime. It documents the media's distortion of the overall picture of crime in American society and the ways in which that distortion occurs. The chapter concludes with an emphasis on the link between distortions and misperceptions and the "politics of crime." 3 tables