Citizen Recourse To Self Protection: Structural, Attitudinal And Experiential Factors

Abstract

At least one fourth of the New York City subway riders surveyed in a 1986 study carry some form of self protection ranging from guns and knives to mace. The tendency of citizens to carry self protective devices is a source of concern to law enforcement officials who denounce such behavior as needless and potentially harmful. Criminal justice practitioners assert that the likelihood of becoming a victim of violent crime is small, that victims and prospective victims are incompetent in their efforts to protect themselves, and that protection against crime is primarily an area reserved to the state regardless of whether it is effective or not. How is one to explain the practice of carrying devices dedicated to self protection when it persists contrary to the advice and disapproval of criminal justice practitioners?