Are Older People Most Afraid of Crime? Revisiting Ferraro and LaGrange in Trinidad

Abstract

This research paper revisits Ferraro and LaGrange's (1992) fear of crime and age study, here using survey data from the Caribbean island of Trinidad but adopting similar methods and statistical analyses. A multi‐stage cluster design was used with 728 randomly selected adults. The overall simple correlations for fear of crime and age are low and negative for both males (–.16) and for females (–.04). The same is true for 17 of the 20 separate gender‐victimization categories (the other 3 being statistically insignificant low positives). Self‐rating of risk follows much the same pattern. The overall simple correlations for risk of victimization and age are low and negative for both males (–.16) and for females (–.03). The same is also true for 15 of the 20 separate gender‐victimization categories (the other 5 being statistically insignificant low positives). Contrary to much of the literature, which suggests that the very aged are supposed to feel ‘prisoners’ in their own homes, here they are found to be the least afraid of all. This study offers no evidence for the proposition that the fear of crime increases, in a simple linear way, with age.