One of the most senior judges in Victoria has labelled the reporting and political rhetoric on African crime in Melbourne as "dangerous" and "skewed".

The County Court Chief Judge, Peter Kidd, says current media reporting gives an inaccurate portrayal of how much crime before the courts is actually being committed by people from the African community and the public needs to be "properly informed".

"If you are an African offender, and certainly if you're an African youth of South Sudanese background from the western suburbs of Melbourne, rest assured your case will be reported upon," he said.

"The media choose to report upon those cases. That creates an impression that we, that our work, a very significant proportion of our work is taken up with African youths from the western suburbs of Melbourne. That's a false impression.

"I can say that in general terms, most of our work, the vast, vast majority of our work does not involve Africans."

'An attack … on the rule of law'

The latest statistics show people born in Sudan make up 0.1 per cent of Victoria's population, but account for 1 per cent of the state's alleged criminal offenders.

Young Sudanese males are overrepresented in certain violent crimes — allegedly committing close to 10 per cent of all aggravated robberies.

Chief Judge Kidd says accusations by politicians and the media that judges are too soft on young offenders gives the public a "skewed impression" of how sentencing works.

"Judges don't simply pick numbers from nowhere when we come to sentence," he said.

"What the community's not told are the other factors which the judge, by law, was required to take into account, such as the fact that he was a first-time offender, or the fact that he's got great prospects of rehabilitation, or the fact that he's complied with all other court orders on bail.

"It's often those factors are pushed to the back or not mentioned at all."

Sorry, this video has expired Melbourne Chief Judge Peter Kidd speaks to Four Corners' Sophie McNeill ( Sophie McNeill )

He warned unfair criticism could undermine public confidence in the courts.

"Criticising the courts is part of the democratic process. I welcome informed criticism," he said.

"Unfortunately, a lot of the criticism that occurs is not informed, and it's not balanced, and it's not fair.

"That's dangerous, because that undermines their confidence in the justice system. That's our concern. It's an attack effectively upon the rule of law.

Chief Judge Kidd says it is important the public understand deterrence and rehabilitation are critical considerations in sentencing young people.

"The law accepts that young people sometimes engage in immature and rash decisions," he said.

"We also know that with young people, that they're great vehicles for reform. An 18-year-old or 19-year-old has the real capacity to turn his or her life around. So the law says, 'Look, we need to seize that opportunity'."

High levels of anger towards African migrants: study

Sorry, this video has expired Melbourne's South Sudanese community feels under siege

Tim Hansen, commander of Melbourne's North West Metro Region, described the past few months in Melbourne as having elements of "moral panic".

"We're seeing headlines and reporting that exacerbates the problem. Reporting on things that we're not necessarily seeing," he told Four Corners.

"It's driving community angst and people are seeing African crime everywhere, which is not necessarily the case."

The concern from the judiciary and the police comes as new research from Monash University indicates there are significantly lower feelings of warmth and higher feelings of anger towards African migrants compared to other migrant groups.

Dr Rebecca Wickes from Monash University surveyed 2,500 people living across 150 suburbs in Melbourne for her study.

"One in four people reported very low levels of warmth towards African people," she told Four Corners.

"There is a degree of bias in our community that is driving these perceptions of fear, driving these perceptions of risk, and driving perceptions of crime.

"To associate fear with blackness is bias. It's not based on objective truths."

Watch Crime and Panic tonight on Four Corners at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.