The Prison Reform Trust notes that crime figures released today reveal a marked disparity between actual crime levels and public perception of rising crime.
Commenting Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust said:

“Fear of crime seems to have risen out of all proportion to any dips or jumps in the actual crime figures.

 Fear of this kind prompts calls for the increased use of imprisonment which leads to loss of housing, job prospects and the break-up of families and then on to more offending.

Our jails are overcrowded because people believe, wrongly, that locking up petty offenders keeps us safe. In fact three quarters of young men leaving prison will be re-convicted within two years.

Sending more people to prison is not the answer to preventing the next victim. After years of being tough on crime we must move away from law and order politics and tackle the social causes of crime.”

She accused some of the tabloid papers of scaremongering and suggested that some exaggerated crime reports should carry a public health warning. She commented:

“Fear of crime is trapping people in their homes, damaging the quality of their lives and ruining their mental health. As well as a sustained drive to cut offending, we need a public information campaign which puts fears of becoming a crime victim into some sort of perspective.”