Are you worried about your childrens and your safety in this country at the moment?

[Helenemjay]

Have just been listening to the news about all those criminals that were set free instead of being deported, there are hundreds of them! it scares me to think that they could be anywhere! This country is fast becoming a scary place to live i fear for my kids greatly sometimes

Are you generally an anxious person, would you say, Helenemjay?

Compared to the total population of this country, it's still quite a small number. The probability of any random individual turning out to be a criminal who should have been deported is very low. And they are unlikely to be a danger to everyone they meet, surely. So I wouldn't worry. What good does worrying do anyway?

I think I will be worried when they are teenagers more than now - they are nearly 4 and nearly 6. "Knife Culture" has been big news lately in this area as last year a young guy was fatally stabbed in my town and the trial has just finished. I will worry about them going out at night but then my parents did the same - hardly sleeping till they heard our keys in the door. I think it's part and parcel of parenting - worrying!

I worry about them getting run over. I don't worry about crime.

I don't think it's any more dangerous now than it was when I was a child, it's just media hysteria. It's the same with the ridiculous scare-mongering about knife crime. I do worry about terrorism though - but more from a global perspective, rather than "oh my god we're all going to be blown up". I wouldn't let it change my way of life anyway.

Message withdrawn

Teenage knife crime is certainly a real issue where I live, but it doesn't stop me going about my daily business.

We imprison ourselves if we fall prey to media hysteria, and the foreign criminals who should have been deported will siomply balance out our home grown crimonals being sent back from places they have committed crimes. it isn't a new thing. And it's tinmy in relation to the country as a whole.

Ditto Aimsmum. Glasgow is owhere near as bad is it made out.

Also, we recetnyl tayed overnight in London, staying in the Travelodge at Kinfs Corss. I was out on my own late at night (dh had take ds back to the hotel, while I chekeced out the Left Luggage facilities in Kings Cross) and didn't feel at all uncofortable. Yes to listen to others, it is the most horrible, sleazy, dangerous place to be at night.

I'm more worried/angry about what Bush and Blair have doen to the saftey of the world as a whole and that now there appear to be so many places inernationally that are "no go" areas, contstraining our choices about where to visit. I feel sad that ds won't have the same freedom to travel that I had when I was a student.

No, not where we live now. I did worry in inner London though - too many yellow boards in the streets around our house. Last straw was a shooting in the house opposite us (two men rode up on a motorbike, marched into the kitchen and shot a man in the head. OK, they were out to get him in particular but I didn't want to risk being caught in any crossfire in future).

You'd be very, very unlucky to be attacked by a foreign criminal. What does worry me is the fact that the prisons are bursting at the seams - we lock up more people than any other EU country. So they aren't providing enough constructive activity for prisoners that might mean they can turn their lives around and go straight when they get out.

And the many criminal justice bills forced through by this government in an attempt to look tough on crime worry me, as they are chipping away at our liberties. These Acts aren't restricted to dealing with the bad guys, they are being used to harass ordinary citizens who dare to heckle Jack Straw or read out a list of names of soldiers who died in Iraq. That threatens the very survival of democracy.

What gets me about the media coverage of knife crime is that they make out that it has recently got so much worse. I know it is a big issue in some areas, but on the whole it's no worse a problem now than it has been for years. I grew up in SE London, had a happy trouble-free childhood, but when I was at school a boy in my year was stabbed and killed. Then there was Stephen Lawrence. It's nothing new - yet the media furore is making people scared to walk out their front doors. Why can't they keep it in perspective??

i think there are far more importantthings to worry yourself over than crime.

most of these men described in sensational stories are convicted of things like car theft or shoplifting...crimes non the less but certainly not dangerous.

i would be more worried about crossing the road than a deranged criminal killing me or my children

I hate media frenzies, but have to say that knife crime has increased considerably in recent years.

More (mainly) men/boys are carrying them, from an earlier age, and using them to threaten with, if not actually cut someone.

Having said that, I try not to worry too much about my children and their safety - I don't want to paralyse them with any fears.

But I agree, I think our children are far more at risk of getting injured by a vehicle than from crime.

Where I live it is definitely less safe than when I was a teenager - this is not media hype or hysteria but fact. We have had some awful murders over the past few years, road rage fatalities, shootings, drive by shootings, knifings, arson, date rapes, drugs. I live in East London/Essex borders. You keep it in perspective and live your life but it's something that goes on. I don't want to live here when my children are teenagers but I can't move to a desert island either

It isn't media hype and frenzy that GB is less safe now than 20 years ago. Crime of all sorts but especially violent crime is up. I think it is a bit naive not to worry tbh.

no

Not really no, but thats not to say I wouldn't leave the country for somewhere nicer/safer if i could afford to.

helen, you just have to stop reading the papers. Or stop reading the tabloids at least.

For the record the criminals who were "released instead of being deported" wouldn't all have been deported anyway for various reasons

callisto - crime is not up at all on 20 years ago and is down on 10 years ago see national crime survey stats here (these stats being the most reliable because they aren't affected by changes in the way crimes are recorded)

kids carried knives when I was at school too.

DH has been a front-line copper for over 27 years.

I've worked within the CJS for 21 years.

I repeat that I hate the media frenzy, and think that we need to keep things in perspective, but we would both say from our experience that violent crime has increased.

perhaps it's just that more are caught, so?

I would say less are caught tbh.