Impact of Crime and Insecurity on Citizen Trust in Public Institutions: Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

The paper aims to explore how crime and insecurity influence citizen trust in public institutions. The study takes Bangladesh as a case study to analyze individual-level data from 1200 respondents obtained from Wave 7 of the World Values Survey (WVS) conducted following a representative sampling. Employing simple linear and multiple regression models, the results demonstrate that the relationships between citizen trust and the four variables of crime and insecurity are significantly negative. The findings indicate that crime incidence in neighborhoods, victimization, fear of crime, and worrying about life detrimentally affect or erode citizen trust and confidence in public institutions. Therefore, the study concludes that combating crime, protecting public security, and maintaining law and order are crucial to restoring citizen trust in public institutions and improving government performance.