crime justice and the media
Most of the time our perceptions regarding crime are constructed through media, politicians, and activists. Potter and Kappeler wrote, "There is probably no issue that more consistently, over a longer period and with greater emotion, influences public opinion than crime. ... What is important is that members of the public have a realistic perception of crime trends. This requires communicating information about crime effectively. Something difficult with how crime-reporting statistics are handled depends on the direction of the trend. For example, if there are increases in crime rates to report, these hit the headlines: crime "soars". In the other hand when crime rates fall, this is usually reported by the media, but, a small fall in crime has as little attraction: accurate but unremarkable coverage is the result.