RT Article T1 Crime trends through two decades of social changes in Spain JF Crime, law and social change VO 54 IS 5 SP 359 OP 380 A1 García España, Elisa A2 Díez Ripollés, José Luis A2 Perez, Fatima A2 Benítez Jiménez, María José A2 Cerezo, Anabel LA English YR 2010 UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1855083310 AB 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. NO Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 379-380 K1 Prison Population K1 Reporting Rate K1 Sexual Offence K1 Victimisation Rate K1 Victimization Survey DO 10.1007/s10611-010-9262-5