This research report addresses the perceptions of youth crime portrayed by the media and held by the public at large. It attempts to answer questions such as; has there been a change in levels of youth crime in recent years?; what is the current public perception of youth crime?; where perceptions of crime differ greatly from the reality, what are the underlying reasons for this? It seeks answers from the literature and self-report surveys, in particular, the British Crime Survey (BCS).
