Making Sense of Crime brings together experts in the causes of crime and measures to reduce it, who share insights from reliable research evidence. This evidence reveals how misleading the political debate on crime is. The guide reviews how the media influences what politicians and the public think about crime, discusses the most reliable ways to judge how much crime is happening, and looks at how some of the common claims about crime and ways to reduces it stack up against research evidence. Making Sense of Crime also analyses some measures to tackle crime that are supported by evidence.

Insights from the evidence in the guide include:

• Most types of crime are falling across developed countries and have been for around 25 years
• ‘Criminals’ aren’t a separate group from the rest of society
• Police statistics are not the best way to judge crime rates
• Crime isn’t caused by a single factor such as poverty, bad parenting, inequality, government cuts or influences such as video games
• The most effective ways to cut crime might lie outside the criminal justice system