This evidence suggests "that the media remains the most important source in informing Australians' views of crime" (Roberts & Indermaur, 2009).
In regards to the rate of crime, 64.9% of respondents surveyed in the 2007 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes responded that crime has increased over the past two years when in fact it has declined, with only 2.9% of respondents correctly identifying that crime rates have reduced (Roberts & Indermaur, 2009). This public overestimation of increasing crime rates reflects media reporting, not the reality of crime statistics as reported by the police or in victimisation surveys (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012). Recent figures as reported by Clancey and Lulham (2014) suggest that the downward trend in crime rates is continuing. Compared with the 2011/2012 rates, there was a 7.6% decrease in non-dwelling break and enter, a 6% decline in stealing from a motor vehicle and an 11% decline in motor vehicle theft, while rates remained relatively stable for dwelling break and enter (down 0.6%). Regarding violent crime, according to the 2013 Australian Crime: Facts and Figures released by the Australian Institute of Criminology, in 2011 and 2012 the rate for kidnapping and abduction was much lower at three per 100,000 people than at the peak in 1999 when it was at four per 100,000. Since 2001, the rate of robbery victimisation has generally been declining. The rate has declined steadily in the last six years from 86 per 100,000 in 2007 to 58 per 100,000 in 2012 (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2013).
The rate for face to face threatened assault has also declined, with the victimisation rate being 2.8% on 2012-2013 compared to 3.9% in 2008-2009 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012-2013). Interestingly, Davis and Dossetor (2010) report that 23.6% of respondents of the 2007 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes believe that 71 to 80 percent of crimes involved violence when in fact violent crimes account for fewer than 10 percent of all crimes.