Norman Dennis' posting on crime levels in London was written last December, but it is a useful aide-memoire in the run-up to an election when the Government is likely to be trying to get away with absurd boasts about its record on crime. I particularly liked this section:

Perhaps the most distasteful bit of responsibility-shedding by the Home Office has been the line that the fear of crime is as much the problem as the fact of crime. It's the populist and hysterical tabloids, stupid. It's the nervous old biddies, stupid.

The fact is that the totally reasonable fear of crime has undoubtedly been one of the main factors in preventing the crime figures being even worse.

The enormous rise in burglaries has been restrained by people making their homes into fortresses. Old people are mugged less than young people because they do not venture out into public spaces at night. Cars have been rendered much more difficult to steal than they were ten years ago.

The whole posting is here.

Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in Behaviour & Crime

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