Tim Bennett’s blog – Electron Soup

I set out to discover whether media reports of violence against Indians in Australia are overblown or accurate. I was surprised by the result.

The recent murder of Nitin Garg lead to a flare-up from Indian media outlets about the dangers of violence towards Indian students studying in Australia. This follows on from a spate of similar activity in 2009. My belief was that a media frenzy has created the impression that Indians are disproportionately the victims of violent crime. Seeking to dispel this myth, I went in search of hard evidence.

To begin with, there were 43971 crimes against the person (PDF) in Victoria in 2008/09 (Victoria Police). For a population of 5,427,700 (ABS) that is a rate of 1 crime per 123 people. Police in Victoria say that 1447 people of Indian descent were victims of crime in the twelve months to October 2009. 2006 Census data puts the Indian-descended population of Victoria at 52,854 giving a figure of 1 crime per 37 Indians. Even allowing for population growth to 60,000 Indians in Australia, this seemingly leaves Indians in Victoria at three times the risk of crime as all other Victorians.

Now, there are all sorts of problems with my methodology. For instance:

• Are Indians in Victoria from the same demographic spread as the rest of Australia, or do they skew younger? (Younger people are more likely to be victims of violent crime.)
• Have I undercounted the Indian population of Victoria? Census data ought to include international students (of whom nearly 100,000 are Indians nationwide), but does it?
• When police are quoted saying 1447 Indians were “victims of crime”, is this the same as the official statistics’ category “crimes against the person” or does it include property crime as well?

What other mistakes have I made, and how much are they likely to affect the numbers? I wish I had better data, to begin with.

I’m not really in a position to answer any of these questions, but these numbers certainly opened my eyes. I think more details should be sought, but on the face of them I’m no longer convinced that violence against Indian students is a media beatup.

Google today launched its street view maps for a large percentage of Australia’s inhabited area. This represents a remarkable endeavour that would not have been possible – let alone freely available – just a few years ago.

As with many Google services, it’s a matter of waiting to see what the community does with the tools provided. Street-level property research has immediately taken off, with one co-worker discovering that the house she’d inspected on the weekend is not always kept in such a pristine condition. I would love to see Google launch a ‘drive through’ feature, allowing one to specify a route and then flip through the images, much like in the video below:

Here’s an assortment of things I’ve noticed on my brief trip around Australia’s roads:

• Sheer volume ensures some shots will be quite pretty, such as this photo of the Clarence River in Grafton.
• Entire CBD blocks are missing, e.g. George Street between Market and King – why?.
• Google’s face-blurring technology ensures privacy for everyone – even no-walking men and  pallets of alcohol boxes.
• photographs of defence installations are numerous, despite “sketching etc. of fortifications [being] prohibited” in Australia

I think we will see some interesting applications come out of Street View. Have you found your house yet?