ABSTRACT
In this chapter we look at what has been happening to crime in the USA and in Britain, both in an overall sense and in terms of trends in relation to different types of crime. As part of this process, we comment in passing on what we know about fear of crime in those societies, because fear of crime can be as serious a problem as crime itself. We also consider the demography and the broad geography of crime, because these factors have major effects on its place-specific elements which are also the main focus of the relationship between crime and the design of the built environment. It is necessary to undertake a breakdown of this nature in any event, because overall crime figures mask very significant spatial differences.
