Thinking about the fall in crime

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review reasons why there has been a fall in the volume of recorded crime in the UK and other liberal economies.

Design/methodology/approach

Published relevant sources are reviewed and commented upon.

Findings

It is argued that the present means of recording conventional categories of crime fails to identify newer crime types such as digital fraud and to a smaller extent the victimisation of businesses and crimes committed by gangs.

Originality/value

It is suggested that present policy and practice in recording crime will give an incomplete picture of overall offending methods and that a review is required together with proactive approaches to identifying crime levels.

Citation

Marlow, A. (2014), "Thinking about the fall in crime", Safer Communities, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 56-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/SC-01-2014-0001