Crime trends through two decades of social changes in Spain

Over the last two decades, the Spanish social fabric has undergone a variety of profound changes, which in turn may explain the rise in police-recorded crime and prison population figures. Although the rise in crime reported to the police has been higher for common offences - misdemeanors - , the ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: García España, Elisa (Author)
Contributors: Díez Ripollés, José Luis ; Perez, Fatima ; Benítez Jiménez, María José ; Cerezo, Anabel
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2010
In: Crime, law and social change
Year: 2010, Volume: 54, Issue: 5, Pages: 359-380
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Keywords:
Prison Population
Reporting Rate
Sexual Offence
Victimisation Rate
Victimization Survey
Description
Summary:Over the last two decades, the Spanish social fabric has undergone a variety of profound changes, which in turn may explain the rise in police-recorded crime and prison population figures. Although the rise in crime reported to the police has been higher for common offences - misdemeanors - , the mainstream media concentrates overwhelmingly in serious violent crimes - felonies - . Spain does not have an official agency responsible for conducting victimization surveys to measure crime trends as directly experienced by the citizens. Based on this methodology, our study shows that contrary to information gathered from police data, and despite social fabric changes, crime in Spain is decreasing. The present study also reveals the distorted public perception of this trend, which seems to respond to a repetitive coverage of serious crime by the mainstream media.
Item Description:Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 379-380
Physical Description:Diagramme
ISSN:1573-0751
DOI:10.1007/s10611-010-9262-5