The discussion is intended mainly for the general reader with an interest in crime rates, victimization, and research on these topics. A chapter on crime statistics notes that the publication of the Criminal Statistics for England and Wales each year tends to result in misleading claims about the national crime rate and to frequently erroneous conclusions. It also notes that data from the last decade suggest that the considerable increase in recorded crime results partly from changing trends in citizen crime reporting and changes in police recording practices. The next chapter explains the rational, content, and methodology of crime and victimization surveys, with emphasis on the British Crime Survey program at the national level and the achievements of some of the leading local crime surveys. The final chapter interprets data from the author's crime survey conducted in Aberystwyth, Wales, in 1993. This survey was one of the few local surveys to record crime and victimization in a rural area. Appended tables from the Aberystwyth survey, reference notes, index, and 107 references