Untangling Fear of Crime: A Multi-theoretical Approach to Examining the Causes of Crime-Specific Fear

Fear of crime has been a major research topic over the past several decades. However, multiple explanations have been proposed and no comprehensive theoretical model exists. In this study, we assess the predictive power of three theoretical models—vulnerability, disorder, and social integration—on offense type-specific, emotionally-based fear of violent and property crime. Results suggest that the predictors of fear of property and violent crime vary, and some theoretical models are a better explanation of one type of fear than the other. Overall, the models are a better fit with fear of violent crime than fear of property crime. The vulnerability model is more strongly related to fear of property crime, while the social integration model is more strongly related to fear of violent crime. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Fear of Crime Among Older People: A Reassessment of the Predictive Power of Crime-Related Factors*

The impact of victimization experiences and crime-related variables on act-specific fear of crime are reinvestigated. Perceived risk and vulnerability to crime were expected to mediate the influence of demographic and crime-related variables on fear. The results of this study suggest that fear of property loss is more explainable by crime-related variables than is fear of violent victimization. Perceptual variables diminish the direct impact of victimization experiences and local crime rate on each type of fear of crime. However, particular demographic and crime-related variables have different effects on fear of property loss and fear of violent crime. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research on the social determinants of fear of crime among the elderly.     

COMPETING PERSPECTIVES ON CROSS-NATIONAL CRIME: AN EVALUATION OF THEORY AND EVIDENCE

Cross-national studies of crime are dominated by a Durkheimian-Modernization theoretical perspective. We evaluate this perspective and present two alternatives, the Marxian-World System and Ecological-Opportunity perspectives. Each is for its theory of social change, causal explanation of criminal behavior, conceptualization of law and crime rates, and view of the relation between collective political behavior and crime. The empirical evidence is assessed and weak support is found for the dominant perspective. The article concludes by reconsidering the concepts of economic development and crime rates.     

Persistence of Suburban Violent Crime Rates: An Ecological Analysis

Abstract

A lagged endogenous variable structural model of 1970 suburban violent crime rates is constructed and evaluated using a sample of 252 large suburbs for which 1960 and 1970 official crime data were available. It was found that suburban crime rates are persistent, that employment specialization and percent low income affect change in violent crime rates, and that suburban age, density, employment specialization, percent low income, percent Black, and region have substantial indirect effects on 1970 crime rates through earlier areal crime rates. Despite theoretical expectations, population growth and age composition exerted no significant direct or indirect effects on violent crime or changes in violent crime rates.     

Women's fear of crime: the role of fear for the well-being of significant others

A number of explanations have been suggested in the literature for the finding that women consistently report higher levels of fear of crime than males. The "shadow" hypothesis argues that fear of crime among females reflects fear of sexual assault. The "intimate" hypothesis argues that women's fear of crime is the result of exposure to intimate violence. Females' fear of crime is expected to be explained by their fear of partners' violence. The main argument of this article is that women's fear of crime might be the result of traditional family gender roles. When asked, women might express fear not only for their own well-being but for that of their children. A survey of a representative sample of women in the third largest city of Israel was used to test this assumption. Women's fear of crime was found to be affected by fear of sexual assault and fear of violent partners. In addition, consistent with the argument of this study, women's fear of violent and sexual victimization of their children had a significant effect on their perception of fear. Future directions for research are suggested.     

Building from the Ground Up

SUMMARY

In an era of low crime rates and high imprisonment rates, the role of communities in producing safety and justice is open for critical reexamination. This article suggests that community resiliency is an unexplored factor in the recent drop in violent crime rates, and that community capacity is adversely affected by imprisonment policies, creating critical questions about the ability of community organizations to engage in partnerships on crime and justice topics. Drawing lessons from several community policing experiments, this article outlines a possible role for community engagement in reducing the current reliance on incarceration as a response to crime.     

The Interdependence of Social Justice and Civil Society

Has civil society declined in the United States in the past 20 years? Multiple indicators suggest evidence for decline. This paper questions Robert Putnam's generational explanation for decline and suggests an alternative explanation, namely the structural economic transformation of the U.S. and how it has been managed. Individuals' perceptions of economic distress have increased since 1972 and are related to changes in indicators of civil society, including associational memberships, trust, anomia, and espoused racial and gay tolerance. Economic distress is also related to political interest and participation. Other consequences of an eroding civil society are discussed, including rising crime and inhibited economic productivity

     

Scared of the Shelter from the Storm: Fear of Crime and Hurricane Shelter Decision Making

Theories about fear of crime may offer insights about the use of public shelters in disaster situations. This study focuses on fear of victimization and gendered explanations of fear of crime in public shelters during hurricane events. From surveys of 424 North Carolina residents, 179 respondents described safety concerns with staying in a public shelter. Fear of victimization was the most commonly identified safety concern in connection to anticipated shelter use, significantly more so than concerns related to sanitation or structural integrity. Female respondents more often described fear of violent and sexual crimes in public shelters, which could be explained through the sexual assault hypothesis. We draw into our analysis literature examining the relationship between fear of crime and gender as we explore the implications of the results on planning for evacuation and sheltering in disaster events. By directly addressing perceived security in public shelters, we hope to expand our understanding of an important U.S. disaster setting by bridging research between fear of crime and disaster studies.     

Fear of property crime: examining the effects of victimization, vicarious victimization, and perceived risk

Fear of crime research has primarily focused on fear of crime in general or on fear of specific types of violent crimes. This study builds from this line of research by focusing exclusively on the night fear of six types of property crimes, including fear of burglary while away from home, vehicle theft, bicycle theft, property theft, vandalism, and vehicle burglary. This study examines the effects of victimization, vicarious victimization, and perceived risk on fear of property crime. Survey data from college students reveal that victimization and vicarious victimization were not significant predictors of fear of property crime, whereas perceived risk was a consistent and significant predictor of fear of all property crimes.     

The interrupted chain: traditional receiver countries,migration regimes,and the East European Jewish diaspora, 1918–39

This article focuses primarily on countries that had been, prior to 1914, among the most favored destinations for East European Jewish migrants: chiefly the United States, Canada, Palestine, Brazil and Argentina. In the inter-war years, these ceased to be the only ports of final entry for Jewish migrants. However, despite restrictive migration regimes and unfavorable economic conditions, traditional receiver countries continued to absorb the largest share of such migrants (the U. S. and Palestine, between them, accounting for over 800,000). Jewish migration to countries other than the United States peaked around 1933; was just about equal to the U. S.-bound migrant stream by 1938; and fell off in 1939–1940. The Jewish case raises several theoretical and methodological issues, including the definition of migrant motivation as well as the framing of immigration policy as products of mixed factors – both political and economic.     

Fear of Crime and Feelings of Unsafety in European Countries: Macro and Micro Explanations in Cross‐National Perspective

In this study, we set out to explain fear of crime and feelings of unsafety, using two waves of the European Social Survey (2006 and 2008) covering 25 European countries (N = 77,674). The results of our multilevel analyses showed varying effects of contextual‐ and individual‐level characteristics on our two outcomes. Higher crime levels in countries increase the fear of crime; however, they do not affect feelings of unsafety. Social protection expenditure proves to be an important determinant of both fear of crime and feelings of unsafety. Moreover, distrust in the police, generalized social distrust, and perceived ethnic threat induce fear of crime as well as feelings of unsafety. Finally, policy implications are discussed.     

At the Intersection of Urban Sociology and Criminology: Fear Of Crime and the Postindustrial City

This essay examines the intersections between urban sociology and criminology in relation to fear of crime. I argue that there is a disconnect between theory and practice when it comes to reducing fear of crime that needs to be resolved in order for the postindustrial city to attract the new middle‐class demographic that is known for embracing and seeking out diversity. Despite the contributions made by environmental criminologists and new urbanists, the most popular explanation of fear of crime and crime reduction, offered by the field of criminology, focuses on reducing quality‐of‐life offenses and incivilities. Yet, these strategies are not known to significantly reduce fear of crime, but rather for purging the urban landscape of its diversity through exclusion.     

Social Disorganization Theory and the Contextual Nature of Crime in Nonmetropolitan Counties*

Abstract This research explores violent and property crime rates in nonmetropolitan counties. It is argued that crime rates are lower in these counties because of higher levels of social integration. We test the hypothesis that predictors of crime from social disorganization theory exert different effects on violent and property crimes at different levels of population change in nonmetropolitan counties. We use a spatial lag regression model to predict the 1989–1991 average violent and property crime rates for these counties, taken from the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). The results show that a factor‐analyzed index of resource disadvantage (poverty rate, income inequality, unemployment, percent female‐headed households) has different effects on both violent and property crime at different levels of population change in nonmetropolitan counties. Contrary to expectations, we find that resource disadvantage exerts a greater positive effect on both violent and property crimes in nonmetropolitan counties that lost population between 1980 and 1990. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

Securitization of migration and the far right: the case of Greek security professionals

Since the events of 9/11, security concerns have gained unprecedented dominance on western governments' national and international political agendas; Greece has been no exception. The success or failure of a far right party, like Golden Dawn, depends on the effectiveness of the government to regulate immigration and to develop policies aimed at combating the racism which pervades the political culture of society at this particular juncture, when the country is experiencing severe crisis. The aim is to provide an account of the rationale of the securitization of migration from the perspective of Greek security professionals. We argue that the extreme securitizing perceptions of security professionals have been exploited and assisted by far‐right extremist groups, which instilled racial violence, hate speech/crime into society, resulting in patterned, unreflective, and routinized security practices and discourses which are more in line with the beliefs and values advocated by the extreme right.     

AN EMPIRICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE DYNAMIC EFFECTS OF POLICE SPENDING ON VIOLENT AND PROPERTY CRIME

The study estimates the dynamic effects of shocks to police expenditures on measures of violent and property crime rates using annual U.S. state-level data for the period 1960–2015. We employ a structural panel VAR model and achieve identification by imposing the restriction that police spending responds to structural shocks to crime with at least a lag of 1 year. Results indicate that a shock to police spending leads to (a) persistent and significant decreases in violent and property crime rates and (b) significant and persistent negative impacts on crime rates in periods of high crime but little impacts in periods of low crime. Variance decompositions show that shocks to police spending account for moderate to large proportions of the variability of U.S. state-level crime rates. Our findings are robust across separate measures of violent and property crime rates, as well as to the inclusion of additional variables to the baseline panel VAR model. (JEL K42)     

Crime,citizenship and community: neoliberal communitarian images of governmentality

This article discusses the emergence, in the field of crime and safety, of a formula of government that can be called neoliberal communitarianism. This is a paradoxical governmental strategy that combines a focus on ‘individual responsibility’, ‘community’ and a ‘selectively tough state’. The discussion is based on the Foucaultian triangle of strategy, political programmes and techniques. The substance of this application consists of a discussion of recent Dutch political programmes and techniques in crime and safety policies. The discussion includes the local case of Rotterdam, a city at times regarded as a ‘policy laboratory’. Specifically, the role that notions of citizenship and community play in crime and safety policies is analysed. We hereby point at two different manifestations of responsibilization – repressive responsibilization and facilitative responsibilization – aimed at two governmentally differentiated populations. In addition, we describe how neoliberal communitarianism entails the selective exclusion of subjects imagined as ‘high risk’. Because the government of crime tells us much about the government of ‘society’, neoliberal communitarianism is a useful concept to grasp contemporary changes in government in the Netherlands and in other European countries.     

Neighborhood Crime Rate,Weight‐Related Behaviors,and Obesity: A Systematic Review of the Literature

A growing body of literature has focused on the link between objectively‐measured neighborhood crime rates, obesity, and weight‐related behaviors including physical activity and diet. Through a systematic search of this literature, the current review evaluates these relationships and stratifies by type of crime (violent or property). Searches on PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar retrieved 24 articles on physical activity/inactivity and 19 articles on obesity or diet. Evidence points to neighborhood crime as being positively associated with obesity and physical inactivity. Studies differentiating these associations by type of crime were lacking, although findings suggest that the link between neighborhood crime and physical activity is stronger for females versus males. Fear of victimization is one explanation for this pattern. Limitations of extant studies are explored, and suggestions for future research are outlined.     

Stigma in divorces and its deterrence effect

We develop a simple economic model of divorce by incorporating the labeling effect into rational choice theory. In our model, we provide an explanation of the process through which a divorced person is being stigmatized and explore theoretically the relationship between the experience of having divorced and the likelihood of divorce. Contrary to a widely held belief, our theoretical model predicts that a once-divorced person is not necessarily more likely to divorce, as is the case in Asian countries. This is because a divorced person may hesitate more to divorce one more time for fear of being labeled as pathological or abnormal.