Crime drops, but Americans think that it has been rising?

For someone deeply involved in the data, it can be surprising to see the gap between what is happening and people's perceptions.  Surely the media has a big effect.

The number of gun killings dropped 39% between 1993 and 2011, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in a separate report released Tuesday. Gun crimes that weren’t fatal fell by 69%. However, guns still remain the most common murder weapon in the United States, the report noted. Between 1993 and 2011, more than two out of three murders in the U.S. were carried out with guns, the Bureau of Justice Statistics found. . . .  

Despite the remarkable drop in gun crime, only 12% of Americans surveyed said gun crime had declined compared with two decades ago, according to Pew, which surveyed  more than 900 adults this spring. Twenty-six percent said it had stayed the same, and 56% thought it had increased. 

It’s unclear whether media coverage is driving the misconception that such violence is up. The mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., were among the news stories most closely watched by Americans last year, Pew found. Crime has also been a growing focus for national newscasts and morning network shows in the past five years but has become less common on local television news. . . .

Thanks to Michael Wahl for the link. 

The one serious flaw that I have with PEW's discussion is that they keep discussing 1993 as if it were the peak year in violent crime.  In fact, 1991 was the peak year for murder, robbery, and overall violent crime.  And 1992 was the peak year for rape and aggravated assault.