Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.This research aimed to provide an overview of the trends in crime and victimisation in an inner city area over the last thirty years. In this period it is widely recognised that the inner city has undergone major changes involving significant population shifts. The London Borough of Islington is taken as a point of reference because it exhibits significant changes in the composition of its population over the last thirty years as well as experiencing major changes in its leisure and consumer activities. At the same time it includes an interesting mix of gentrified areas combined with pockets of poverty and deprivation. The principal aim of the research was to examine changes in the distribution of crime and victimisation in this particular context. In 1986 a landmark study of crime and victimisation was carried out and published in the form of The Islington Crime Survey (Jones, McLean and Young, 1986). This study sought to both extend and qualify the findings of the then British Crime Survey (currently referred to as the Crime Survey for England and Wales) which collected national data. It was recognised that the form and level of crime varies significantly by area and that if victimisation surveys are going to inform policy then they have to be detailed and localised. For example, local crime surveys like The Islington Crime Survey (ICS) are able to identify specific streets and areas where people feel unsafe and can provide policy makers with the information that allows them to make such areas safer. They also allow assessments by residents of police performance and the opportunity for residents to express their priorities and concerns. Nationally, there has been a significant decrease in most forms of recorded crime over the last two decades. This research provided an investigation of this decrease in an inner city area and aimed to identify which groups, if any, have benefited from this...