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(Mis)Perceptions of Crime in Australia

NCJ Number
232957
Author(s)
Brent Davis; Kym Dossetor
Date Published
June 2010
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the public's perceptions of crime in Australia.
Abstract
Public concern about crime victimization is one of a range of factors that policymakers take into account when creating new criminal offenses, setting penalties and allocating resources for policing and prosecution. The level of public concern about rising crime can also determine the extent to which people engage in certain daily activities, sometimes restricting behavior unnecessarily. However, there can be a disjunction between how people perceive the risk of crime victimization and the actual level of victimization that occurs in the community. Recently, for example, concern with some crime types has increased, despite an actual decline in crime rates for the offenses in question. This study reinforces earlier research into perceptions of crime; that there are substantial misperceptions of crime among the general public, both in terms of the number of incidents and in perceptions of trends in crime. This paper uses statistical modeling based on data taken from the 2007 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes to examine the relationship between gender, age, education and sources of information on crime in the Australian context. (Published Abstract) Figures, tables, and references