Ms Deirdre Malone:

The most serious offences are given most news coverage because they are the most interesting to the public. As a result, we all suffer from the perception that serious crime is increasing. Has anyone read a news story about the 40% decline in homicides recorded so far this year? I certainly have not read any such report. We are all getting our information from the media, which have very different values from those of data- and evidence-based criminal justice policy. That is what we should be interested in.