Fear of Crime Victimization: A Study of University Students in India and Japan

Abstract

Previous research has established that fear of crime victimization is a result of many factors including age, gender, race, income, neighbourhood variables, prior victimization and so on. The present research was conducted to test the following hypotheses: (1) fear of crime victimization is dependent on the country in which one lives; (2) socio-demographic characteristics affect fear of crime victimization; (3) economic status affects fear of crime victimization; and (4) prior experience of victimization affects fear of crime victimization. Using a structured questionnaire, constructed for the purpose, data were collected from a sample of 725 students from the city of Chennai (India) and 715 students from Mito City in Japan. The results of the study revealed that there was a difference in the level of fear of crime victimization between the respondents from India and Japan. Fear of crime victimization was influenced by some factors such as gender, age and the place of residence of respondents. In contrast to many previous studies relating to influence of prior victimization, it is puzzling to note that prior experience of crime victimization did not influence positively fear of crime victimization.