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The Real Crime Figures
The British government claims that crime is falling, pointing to figures which show a decline in incidents, despite horror stories in the press. However, many suspect that not only does the government massage its own figures, but the vast majority of incidents go unreported.
There is some evidence that this is the case. A shocking report from gay rights group Stonewall claims that one in five gay and lesbian people have been subject to homophobic aggression in the past three years. One in six of these had been assaulted in some way.
Three-quarters of the victims did not report the aggression to the police, "often because they did not think the complaint would be investigated."
Let's imagine that these statistics could apply to other vulnerable groups: Teenagers who need to walk through neighbourhoods infested with gangs; or the poor of Britain's inner cities and housing estates, who are more likely to be victims of crime than their middle class counterparts, and who have little reason to expect that the authorities might be interested in an attack on them or their property. Perhaps three in four of these don't report incidents to the police... suddenly the government's figures don't seem so convincing.
