FEAR OF CRIME AMONG THE ELDERLY AS PERSON/ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION*

Despite lower victimization, older people express greater fear of crime. The causes and consequences of such fear are investigated for a 1980 sample of 1,185 persons aged 60+. Fear of crime is a response to both personal vulnerability and locational cues. Fear reduces subjective well-being, but has little relation to activity patterns. While social resources have little bearing on fear of crime and its consequences, variations by sex and personal competence are apparent. These reflect the role of coping resources and environmental docility.     

Neighborhood Residents’ Fear of Crime: A Tale of Three Cities

Neighborhood characteristics impact residents’ fear of crime. Empirical research supports these ideas, but the majority of these studies are based on residents of a single city. The relationship between social control, disorder, perceptions of crime, and residents’ fear of crime has not been fully explored across multiple cities. The current study examines the relationship between residents’ perceptions of neighborhood safety, disorder, and social control using survey data from residents across three cities in the United States. The findings suggest that shared expectations lead to decreased fear, while increased levels of social disorder lead to a greater fear of crime across each of the three cities. Other factors, including perceptions of crime, exposure to victimization, and demographic characteristics are not consistently related to the fear of crime. This suggests the structural impact of city factors, or increases in disorder and crime, might be influencing the perceptions of risk and constrained behaviors of residents.     

Crime news,fear of crime,and mistrust: an examination of protective factors against influences of local crime news

This study investigates interpersonal communication ties and a neighborhood context as moderators of the influences of local crime news on fear of crime and mistrust. Data from a web survey of residents in Chicago show that the relationship between attention to local crime news and fear of crime is weaker for respondents who more frequently communicate with neighbors both intimately and casually and who live in more walkable neighborhoods. Data also indicate that the relationship between local crime news and mistrust is weaker for those who more often communicate with neighbors intimately and live in more walkable neighborhoods. Findings are discussed in terms of protective factors against the negative influences of local crime news.     

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.     

Validating New Measures of the Fear of Crime

This study assesses the scaling properties of some new measures of the fear of crime. The new conceptualization—a range of distinct but related constructs that constitute the fear of crime—comprises the interplay between emotion, risk perception and environmental perception. Data from a small‐scale survey are analysed using confirmatory factor analysis showing good scaling properties of the multiple indicators. Two implications of the new conceptualization for the rationality of the fear of crime are discussed. First, perceptions of the risk of crime seem to be a product of how individuals make sense of their social and physical environment. Second, the fear of crime may constitute such evaluations of community cohesion and moral consensus as well as specific experiences of ‘fear’ of ‘crime’—a way of seeing as well as a way of feeling. The conclusions consider ramifications for the rationality of the fear of crime, particularly in the context of reassurance policing in England and Wales.     

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.     

Extrapolative simulation of neighborhood networks based on population spatial distribution: Do they predict crime?

Objectives

Previous criminological scholarship has posited that network ties among neighborhood residents may impact crime rates, but has done little to consider the specific ways in which network structure may enhance or inhibit criminal activity. A lack of data on social ties has arguably led to this state of affairs. We propose to avoid this limitation by demonstrating a novel approach of extrapolatively simulating network ties and constructing structural network measures to assess their effect on neighborhood crime rates.

Methods

We first spatially locate the households of a city into their constituent blocks. Then, we employ spatial interaction functions based on prior empirical work and simulate a network of social ties among these residents. From this simulated network, we compute network statistics that more appropriately capture the notions of cohesion and information diffusion that underlie theories of networks and crime.

Results

We show that these network statistics are robust predictors of the levels of crime in five separate cities (above standard controls) at the very micro geographic level of blocks and block groups.

Conclusions

We conclude by considering extensions of the approach that account for homophily in the formation of network ties.     

Are elderly men worried about crime?

It has been well documented that older adults, especially women, are more inclined to express fear of crime, but their risk of victimization is significantly lower than for people from other age groups. Even if gender issues related to fear are known, fear of crime among men is undocumented. This article explores how worry about victimization among older men (N = 156), from 3 francophone cities in Quebec, Canada, is influenced by age groups (60–69, 70–79 and 80 years old and over), health, depression, social support and prior victimization. There are significant results associated with the 3 dimensions of worry about crime (emotional, behavioural and cognitive). We conclude by commenting on the following question: Is worry about crime among elderly men a reality?     

Watching the detectives: crime programming, fear of crime, and attitudes about the criminal justice system

Research demonstrates a complex relationship between television viewing and fear of crime. Social critics assert that media depictions perpetuate the dominant cultural ideology about crime and criminal justice. This article examines whether program type differentially affects fear of crime and perceptions of the crime rate. Next, it tests whether such programming differentially affects viewers' attitudes about the criminal justice system, and if these relationships are mediated by fear. Results indicated that fear mediated the relationship between viewing nonfictional shows and lack of support for the justice system. Viewing crime dramas predicted support for the death penalty, but this relationship was not mediated by fear. News viewership was unrelated to either fear or attitudes. The results support the idea that program type matters when it comes to understanding people's fear of crime and their attitudes about criminal justice.     

Fear of crime among vulnerable populations: Homeless women

Are the factors associated with the fear of crime in the general population the same as those operating with especially vulnerable subgroups? If not, how and why are they different? Previous studies concerning the fear of crime have identified certain vulnerability factors as being associated with higher levels of fear. These include, for instance, being female, living in certain ghetto areas, and being elderly. Because many of these studies focused upon fear in the general population, however, they assumed a certain homogeneity of fear, whether it be among women, among the elderly, among Blacks, etc. They failed to make distinctions based upon relative degrees of vulnerability. They also generally neglected the notion of fear management—of coping. This research addresses these concerns. Two hundred homeless women (defined here as homeless adult females living on the streets), were interviewed in New York City. Among other things, they were asked about their crime risks and their crime fears. Results indicate that fear of crime is higher among those street women who have suffered past victimization. It is also slightly higher among those who perceived themselves to be more vulnerable. Perhaps most interesting is the finding that there is only a low correlation between self-perceived vulnerability to victimization and the fear of crime. This supports the proposition that these are two distinctive concepts; and, most importantly, it does so in the context of a particularly vulnerable population. Possible explanations of a seemingly paradoxical situation, namely high vulnerability existing side by side with a low fear of crime, are explored and 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.     

PREDICTORS OF FEAR OF CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION AT SCHOOL AMONG ADOLESCENTS

Adolescent crime at school, as well as adolescent fear of crime at school, have increasingly become serious social problems. Although many studies have been conducted examining the predictors of fear of crime among adults in various settings, fear of criminal victimization among adolescents at school has been practically ignored. Using a representative sample of 742 high school students from a southeastern state, this study examined the predictors of adolescent fear of crime at school in an attempt to determine whether they are similar to predictors of adult fear of crime. Results indicate that, although the predictors of fear among adolescents are, in many cases, similar to those of adults, there are important differences. As expected, youths with lower levels of perceived safety at school and youths who perceive their neighborhoods as exhibiting signs of incivility were more likely to be fearful of criminal victimization at school. Interestingly, however, there were important differences between adolescents and adults regarding the effects of race, gender, and victimization experience and fear of crime. The results from this study indicate that the effects of race and victimization experience on fear of crime vary by gender: Namely, Black males were more fearful than White males, and female victims of crime were more fearful than females who had not been victimized by crime. This study suggests that the phenomena that underlie fear of crime among adults are somewhat different than those of adolescents.     

Voluntary action in rural areas: the case of neighbourhood watch

This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation into active Neighbourhood Watch (NW) Schemes in Hereford and Worcester: an area which has experienced a rise in both crime rate and the number of active NW Schemes in the last ten years. The example of NW is used to examine the effectiveness of voluntary action to tackle social problems in rural areas and to consider the changing nature of social relations found there. More specifically, the study of these schemes allows an assessment to be made of the impact and nature of crime in rural areas and measures the effectiveness of NW in countering it. The paper reveals that NW does have an important role to play in reducing fear of crime and improving police relations. It confirms that NW operates with considerable social bias which is a recognised problem associated with voluntary action. The final discussion highlights the need for more systematic studies of the problem of rural crime.     

The impact of parenting style on fear of crime among adolescent girls and boys

Research on adolescent fear of crime is still relatively limited and often simply applies theoretical explanations proposed for adults. This study strives to extend current knowledge in this field by analyzing the impact of parenting style on fear of crime, namely parental attachment, parental supervision, and parental support of adolescent autonomy, while also considering possible gender differences. Using data from a self-report survey of approximately 1500 Czech adolescents, a hierarchical regression analysis is employed to examine these relationships while controlling for socio-demographic variables, environmental disorder, leisure time indicators, as well as victimization experience. The results suggest that higher parental supervision and lower parental support of adolescent autonomy are associated with increased fear of crime among adolescents. In addition, a gender-specific effect is found for parental attachment which somewhat decreases fear of crime for boys and increases it for girls. Nevertheless, the overall impact of parental indicators on fear of crime is relatively low. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.     

Women's fear of crime: A rural perspective

This paper examines women's experience of fear of crime in rural areas. It argues that much existing research on issues of gender, fear and safety have focused on urban areas and that as a result we know relatively little about women's experience of fear in a rural context. As well as arguing that we need to redress the balance and respond to the dearth of knowledge about rural women's fear, the paper asserts the importance of a rural perspective in understanding the relationship between fear and the social and cultural construction of place. The rural in particular provides an important site for such an understanding since, as is argued here, the notion of safety is central to constructions of rurality. The paper presents data on rural women's experience of fear and crime from research carried out in New Zealand and the UK. It draws on work undertaken in four rural communities and begins to identify the extent and nature of women's fears and how these relate to their experience of rurality. The paper shows how while popular constructions of the rural as friendly, safe and largely crime free endure, there is a recognition amongst rural women of the growing problems surrounding personal safety. It also demonstrates the importance of social constructions of the rural community in identifying the relevance of the ‘stranger’ and the marginalised ‘other’ to women's feelings of fear.     

Self‐Esteem,the Fear of Crime,and the Decision to Protect Oneself From Victimization

This research extends prior work that examines self‐esteem as an outcome of protective behaviors against crime victimization by focusing instead on the moderating influence of self‐esteem on the relationship between the fear of crime and the decision to protect oneself from victimization. The fear of crime is conceptualized as two separate components (fear of victimization and perceived risk) in accordance with prior work. Self‐esteem is conceptualized as three separate components (worth, efficacy, and authenticity), and measured with a recently designed instrument for capturing each aspect of self‐esteem separately. Data are collected through surveys of a population at high risk for victimization (undergraduate college students). Logistic regression analyses demonstrate that self‐esteem does play a role for deciding whether to engage in protective behaviors, and that the specific components of self‐esteem moderate defensive behavioral outcomes differently. Specifically, the self‐worth, self‐efficacy, and authenticity components of self‐esteem influence the decision to carry protection, but not the decision to take a self‐defense class. Implications for both the fear of crime and self‐esteem literatures are addressed.     

THE EFFECT OF FEAR OF SEXUAL VICTIMIZATION ON ADOLESCENT FEAR OF CRIME

The author examines the effect of fear of sexual victimization on fear of crime among adolescents. Criminologists have indicated that gender is one of the strongest predictors of fear of crime: Women are more fearful than men. Some authors (Warr 1984, and Ferraro 1995, among others) have suggested that this differential fear among women can mostly be attributed to their inordinate fear of sexual victimization. This relationship, however, has only been examined among adults. Using a sample of 725 adolescents, the effect of fear of sexual victimization and other demographic and contextual variables on fear of criminal victimization is examined. Results indicate that fear of sexual victimization is the best predictor of fear of nonsexual victimization, whereas the effects of other variables are contingent on race and gender. The reasons for this finding, as well as the implications for social policies, 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.     

The Jewish Exodus from the New South Africa: Realities and Implications

In the 1990s, the Jewish population of South Africa declined at an unprecedented rate in marked contrast to Jewish populations in other English-speaking countries.
Possible explanations include fear of political instability and political violence, deteriorating economic conditions and prospects, fear of directly discriminatory government policies, rising violent crime rates, and more permissive immigration policies in desirable destination countries.
All but the last of these factors appear to have played some role. However, only changes in violent crime rates provide an explanation for the unprecedented surge in net emigration, persisting even after a successful political and economic transition to majority black rule under moderate African National Congress governments.
Changes in crime rates also provide the most satisfactory explanation for related changes in internal migration patterns.     

THE THREAT OF VICTIMIZATION: A THEORETICAL RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF FEAR OF CRIME

Prior analysis in fear of crime research designates fear of crime as the dependent variable and designates independent variables that cause its existence. Two independent variables that are often discussed as causes of fear of crime are perceived risk and constrained behaviors. This paper critiques this conceptualization of fear of crime and argues that the focus of study should not be fear of crime but a larger construct called “the threat of victimization.” The threat of victimization consists of three components; the emotive component (fear of crime), the cognitive component (perceived risk), and the behavioral component (constrained behaviors). Therefore, fear of crime is not a consequence of perceived risk and constrained behaviors, but is instead involved in a complex reciprocal relationship with these two variables. This theoretical argument and its implications will be explored.