The Crime Paradox: Why It Rises in Good Times and Falls During Crises

We think we know a lot about crime. Every day on the news we hear alarming statistics, while thrillers and true crime podcasts top the charts. But the reality is that we're spectacularly bad at predicting crime trends. Most of our assumptions about law-breaking are just not supported by the data, from the idea that crime rises in hard times to the suggestion that tougher sentences and more police on the street will always bring crime down. What are the true causes of crime, and how can we tackle them?

Nick Morgan has been a crime researcher at the Home Office for nearly two decades. In The Crime Paradox, he analyses the data and looks back to the 1960s, the beginning of a global crime wave that lasted until the turn of the century - a pattern that was almost identical in America, the UK, Australia and across Western Europe. Using a mixture of historical exploration and data analysis, and breaking through media hysteria, Morgan examines the recent trend in criminality, and considers how we might make our streets safer for good.