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Crime Statistics and the Public

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Crime Statistics in the News

Abstract

This chapter deals fundamentally with how people read, understand and react to crime statistics in the news. It looks at the phenomenon of moral panics in relation to the way crime statistics are reported by the news media. Overall, the chapter explores these issues in the light of wider theories of public opinion, such as the spiral of silence, which help explain, in part, how and why people react to these statistics in the way they do. The chapter then goes on to provide a political account of how statistics are interpreted by the public and how this helps them change and/or reinforce perceptions about issues and policy relating to law and order. It provides examples of news stories containing crime statistics that have been important in the shaping of the public’s views regarding crime while looking at how they influence, over time, crime policy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Media and Communications, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Jairo Lugo-Ocando

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  1. Jairo Lugo-Ocando
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Lugo-Ocando, J. (2017). Crime Statistics and the Public. In: Crime Statistics in the News. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39841-3_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39841-3_9

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-39840-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-39841-3

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

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