Do politicians and a debate about policy and policy changes impact public opinion? Anthony Piscitelli asked this question at the end of the previous episode and now he reveals his answer!

Everyone wants to know... how do political leaders make their decisions about crime policy anyway? Are they influenced by public opinion polls? Do politicians influence public attitudes?

You probably already know this about the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council, but it bears repeating.... When a wicked question¹ comes our way, we're not satisfied until we get an answer, even if it means tons of research and pounds of data!

Our By the Numbers feature is back with a series of video blogs by Anthony Piscitelli, our very own Supervisor, Planning and Research with the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council.

It costs a lot of money to provide treatment in a residential facility for children facing mental health issues. For a typical 6 - 8 month stay, costs can range from $20,000 to $38,400. But Social Work professors at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) found that after spending these resources, it still doesn't seem to provide enough support to help kids transition from the treatment program back to their normal lives.

In a recent report, Why Canadian Crime Statistics Don't Add Up: Not the Whole Truth, written for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, author Scott Newark argues that violent crime has actually increased in Canada despite Statistics Canada reporting a decrease in violent crimes for the past decade.

Measuring trends and services over time and within consistent categories is a strength that makes Correctional Services Canada reports a fascinating read. No, seriously! It's true!

Does watching real-life crime stories increase your fear of crime or do you watch real life crime stories because you are afraid of crime? This question remains after reading Watching the Detectives: Crime programming, fear of crime, and attitudes about the criminal justice system.

The ongoing conversation about crime, data, fear of crime, and the combination of all three, has always been a matter of much public debate.

Mark Twain popularized the phrase “there are three types of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics”.  Now, over 100 years later, the volume of information and the number of statistics we are exposed to has dramatically increased.