The measurement of public attitudes is commonplace within the social sciences, and historians often adopt proxies for popular opinion in the form of statistical measures. This article presents a series of figures detailing convictions and dismissals in New Zealand and English courts, penalties for assaults in New Zealand, England, and Australia, and prosecution rates per 10,000 population for New Zealand, England, and Australia all from the time period between 1880 and 1920. Each and every violent act, historically, resonates with meanings that express wider societal influences. The increasing civilization of society in New Zealand, England, and Australia from 1880 to 1920, and the promotion of masculinity in these regions suggest that particular forms of violence are linked to masculinity and aggression. Addressing an oral history project focused on Sydney, Australia from the time period 1900 to 1930, the author maintains that in-depth oral history projects are exceedingly useful to both criminologists and historians. Oral histories may undermine popular opinions and existing orthodoxies concerning Victorian and Edwardian levels of crime and its apparent dramatic decline from 1880 to 1920 in New Zealand, England, and Australia. References