Young people’s victimization and safety perceptions along the trip

Abstract

ABSTRACT The objective of this article is to assess whether, how and why young people’s safety perceptions vary along the trip. Informed by principles of environmental criminology, this study makes use of a dataset recently collected among young riders of public transportation (1,122 university students) in Stockholm, Sweden. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and logistic regression models underlie the methodology of the study. Findings indicate that safety perceptions of young riders are affected by previous experience of sexual crimes but are not affected by overall victimization. More importantly, being exposed to high crime environments on the way to the metro significantly reduces young people’s safety perceptions (but not on the way to bus stops), especially for men. Drunk people tend to affect women’s safety perceptions, especially in bus systems. The article finishes by discussing the implications of the results for future research and helps advocate more inclusion of young people’s safety needs when implementing safety and transportation policies.