Fear Of Crime Research Articles

Deviant Women in the Media: Between Reality and Fiction

Media has the power not only to determine the main issues, but also to reflect crime statistics. It’s common that fear of crime is constructed using eye-catching headlines and sensational narratives. This is especially the case when the crime is committed by women. In addition to its main aim - to examine how deviant women are portrayed - the article also focuses on the evolution of crime news, analyses female crime data and its treatment on the Lithuanian news portal DELFI.

Morphological Characteristics and Fear of Crime: A Case of Public Spaces in the Global North and South

The morphological characteristics of a city have a direct relationship with the human activities happening in the public spaces. If, however, the public spaces become unsafe, people may avoid them. On the other hand, safe public spaces allow free movement for everyone, which is the most basic human need and a crucial part of social sustainability. By focusing on the present-day realities that create the link between the implications for ownership and the provision of the public spaces, this research aims to understand the nature of the morphological characteristics of cities in the Global North and South and its impact on and association with fear of crime. Two case study streets in Stockholm, Sweden, and Karachi, Pakistan, are selected to establish a hypothesis. The study draws upon comprehensive data through a questionnaire survey and morphological analysis. The results suggest that the selected streets in the Global North and South show a similar morphological structure in terms of street layout, land use, plot patterns, and heights of the buildings but difference in pedestrian flows. In relation to the fear of crime, both streets show parks as risky places to visit at night. The results also show some differences in terms of people's responses to the fear of crime in relation to the city's morphology. For instance, people avoid vacant plots and petrol pumps in Karachi, while entrances to metro stations and hidden corners of buildings are considered risky places in Stockholm.

The media and the fear of crime in the Brazilian Federal District

O objetivo deste artigo é examinar a influência da mídia na percepção do medo do crime entre moradores do Distrito Federal brasileiro. O estudo explora a influência das características da audiência na relação entre a mídia e o medo do crime. Também analisamos o impacto de diferentes tipos de mídia (TV, jornais e redes sociais) sobre o medo do crime. Os resultados mostram que a influência da mídia sobre o medo do crime depende do tipo de mídia, devido às diferenças em seu conteúdo e às características da audiência.

“I Am Actually Sitting With Fear”: Narratives of Fear of Crime and Actual Victimization in the Western Cape Province, South Africa

In the Western Cape Province of South Africa, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide direct services for residents of underserved areas where gang violence is rampant. The purpose of this qualitative study is to create a context specific understanding of fear of crime, explore experiences of actual victimization, and identify the strategies participants use to adapt to community challenges at an NGO in the province through in-depth semi-structured interviews with Black and Colored women. Actual victimization was experienced by more than half of the sample, fear of crime was the main barrier for almost half of all participants to effectively use the NGOs services, and 40% of women adapt to community challenges by remaining resilient or coping with violence through avoidance.

The impact of crime on the sense of security

The issue of fear of crime was first addressed in the late 1960s in the United States of America in connection with the emergence of anxiety about crime in the society. Due to the fact that the concept of fear of crime involves a greater range of negative associations, suggesting the fact of experiencing emotions, and not a certain way of perceiving reality, the concept of a sense of security was adopted for the purposes of this research. Hence, the aim of this study is to show the interdependencies between the sense of security and crime based on a review of the available literature and research conducted so far. As shown by theoretical research, the sense of security of an individual depends on many factors, both in terms of its increase and decrease, and not exclusively on the levels of crime. This paper constitutes an extension of the theoretical research contained in the publication entitled “Sense of Security and Crime: The Residents' Perspective”.

Impact and Feasibility of harnessing AI and ML in the realm of Cybersecurity to detect Network Intrusions A Review

Remarkable advances in cyberspace, have amassed a magnanimous set of Internet users worldwide. While people engage in various activities and use the web for various needs, the prospective fear of cyber attacks, crime and threats is indubitable. Though a plethora of preventive measures are in use, it is impossible to circumvent cyber threats completely. Cybersecurity is a domain that deals with prevention of cyber attacks by use of effective precautionary and remedial measures. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) and its profound scope in contemporary technical innovations, it is a critical necessity to inculcate its techniques in enhancement of existing cybersecurity techniques. This paper offers a detailed review of the concepts of cybersecurity, commonly encountered cyber attacks, the relevance of AI and ML in cybersecurity along with a comparative performance analysis of distinct ML algorithms to combat network anomaly detection and network intrusion detection.

Understanding the Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk Across Immigrant Generations: Does the Quality of Social Ties Matter?

The current study examines the relationships between immigration, social ties, and perceptions of safety. We estimated immigrant generation by race/ethnicity interactions to uncover unique patterns across subpopulations of immigrants while controlling for important neighborhood contextual factors. Immigrant generation was negatively associated with feelings of fear. First-generation Asian immigrants reported the greatest level of fear in the sample. High-quality social ties were negatively associated with fear of crime, while the number of social ties was unrelated to fear. Results suggest first-generation immigrants are in a precarious position in society with respect to feeling safe in their neighborhoods. Local officials should seek ways to provide accurate messaging on the threat of victimization in immigrant communities.

Exploring the determinants of victimization and fear of online identity theft: an empirical study

The present study aims at understanding what factors contribute to the explanation of online identity theft (OIT) victimization and fear, using the Routine Activity Theory (RAT). Additionally, it tries to uncover the influence of factors such as sociodemographic variables, offline fear of crime, and computer perception skills. Data for the present study were collected from a self-reported online survey administered to a sample of university students and staff (N = 832, 66% female). Concerning the OIT victimization, binary logistic regression analysis showed that those who do not used credit card had lower odds of becoming an OIT victim, and those who reported visiting risky contents presented higher odds of becoming an OIT victim. Moreover, males were less likely than females of being an OIT victim. In turn, fear of OIT was explained by socioeconomic status (negatively associated), education (positively associated) and by fear of crime in general (positively associated). In addition, subjects who reported more online interaction with strangers were less fearful, and those reported more avoiding behaviors reported higher levels of fear of OIT. Finally, subjects with higher computer skills are less fearful. These results will be discussed in the line of routine activities approach and implications for online preventive behaviors will be outlined.

Does fear of migrant crime predict xenophobia: Evidence from three Russian cities

In this study, we examine Russian millennials’ attitudes toward migrants—an estimated 10 million legal and four million illegal migrants, who work in construction, service, and retail industries. More specifically, we examine the influence of various factors such as perceived fear of migrant crime, economic, and cultural competition on explaining xenophobia measured by social distance and ethnic exclusionism. Drawing from a survey of 944 university students in St Petersburg, Vladivostok, and Rostov-on-Don, Russia, our findings suggest that fear of migrant crime along with perceived cultural threats are strong predictors of xenophobic attitudes toward migrants. However, the economic threat did not appear to be a strong predictor of xenophobia. Variations existed between cities on dimensions of a perceived threat from migrants, suggesting that geographic and city characteristics are important factors.

Illuminating Associations between Parenting and Deleterious Neighborhood Characteristics via an Exhaustive Modeling Approach.

Our goal was to illuminate associations between specific characteristics of under-resourced neighborhoods (i.e., socioeconomic deprivation, danger) and specific aspects of parenting (e.g., parental praise, parental nurturance, harsh parenting, parental control). Prior work has highlighted associations between level of neighborhood disadvantage and the parenting of its residents. However, this work has yet to clarify the specific characteristics of the neighborhood or the types of parenting involved. Exhaustive modelling analyses were conducted in a sample of 1,030 families of twins (average age 8 years; 51% male, 49% female; the racial composition was 82% White, 10% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Indigenous, 6% multiracial) from the Twin Study of Behavioral and Emotional Development in Children. Neighborhood and parenting were assessed using multiple informants and assessment strategies (neighborhood informants, family informants, administrative data, videotaped parent-child interactions). Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation (i.e., limited institutional and economic structural resources) demonstrated small but consistent associations with positive parenting behaviors and maternal control, but not with negative parenting behaviors. Neighborhood danger (i.e., recorded crime, fear of crime, exposure to community violence), by contrast, demonstrated weaker associations with parenting that dissipated once we controlled for overlap with socioeconomic deprivation. Danger and socioeconomic deprivation do not function as interchangeable characteristics of under-resourced neighborhoods, at least in terms of their association with positive parenting. Future studies should identify the specific mechanisms through which neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation is associated with supportive parenting.

Bridging the Invisible Cultural Gap

Bridging the Invisible Cultural Gap

Duterte's “War on Drugs” Rhetoric

Duterte's “War on Drugs” Rhetoric

Evaluating Fear of Crime in the City from Ecological Perspective: A Study on Female University Students in Turkey

Today, fear in urban areas is rapidly expanding its domain. Disadvantaged sections of the city feel the fear of crime more prominently because of their vulnerability. Among these segments, female university students are the subject of this study. The insecure feelings of female students who frequently use urban public spaces, live in less isolated environments than other parts of society and have to ride on public transportation at late hours, reduce their quality of life and add to their existing problems. In particular, it can be expressed that environmental and design related factors affect female students’ fear of crime. The ecological approach based on this subject constitutes the starting point of this study. In this context, the study aims to analyze female university students’ fear of crime from the ecological perspective. Within the scope of the study, a quantitative standardized questionnaire technique was used as a data collection tool for the above-mentioned purposes. According to the findings; female students feel a distinct fear of various crimes in Turkey as they do in every country in the world. In particular, sexual assault is the leading crime. Female students who are continuing their education in Turkish cities are inadequate in the context of integration with the city where they live and establishing neighborly relations. This leads to an increase in their level of unease. However, students feel unsafe in their daily life practices due to urban planning problems, irregularities and physical disorganizations. The value of this research, which is carried out with the idea that there is a significant deficiency in the field especially in terms of urban studies, is to be a leading survey in Turkey. In addition, the study is one of rare studies dealing with female university students’ fear of crime from an ecological perspective.

Homes, Home Lives and Precarious Privilege: Older Western Residents and Differing Lifestyle Mobilities in Ubud, Bali

ABSTRACT This article explores later-life subjectivities and experiences of precarious privilege through the ethnographic lens of home life and the material culture of homes. Based on long-term fieldwork with older white foreigners in Ubud, Bali, I examine the role of building projects and vernacular architecture in forging moral connections across self, local culture and place-myth. These subject positions of belonging and identity are nourished yet unsettled by the growing presence of younger foreigners and modern housing forms in Ubud. I argue that experiences of privilege and precarity coexist and evolve across time, in places such as Bali that are transformed by lifestyle mobilities and tourism development. A focus on home lives and the materiality of homes hones analysis of precarious privilege towards understandings of belonging and place attachment. If distinctions between traditional homes and modern villas confirm differences within lifestyle ‘communities’, they also speak to spatialised entanglements of global and localised political economy dynamics that disrupt the privileged home lives and identity projects of ageing mobile subjects. For Western residents in Ubud, my analysis shows, precarious privilege takes the form of rising costs of living, property insecurity, a fear of crime, and uneven relationships with local domestic workers, landowners and landlords.

외국인 밀집지역에서 범죄피해 두려움에 관한 연구

Our society has entered a multicultural society due to the residence of foreign workers, married immigrant women, and foreign students, and is moving toward the maturity stage of a multicultural society. When entering a multicultural society, foreigners form their densely populated areas, maintain or develop cultural characteristics, and provide a role to revitalize the local economy. However, in areas densely populated by foreigners, the influx of foreigners has a problem of lowering housing satisfaction and forming anxiety about safety. In this study, we tried to figure out the factors affecting the fear of crime victims experienced by Koreans in areas densely populated by foreigners. In particular, the purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of the local community experienced in areas densely populated by foreigners and how it affects the fear of crime victims according to the perceptions of foreigners, such as conflict, prejudice, and acceptance of foreigners. To achieve the research purpose, secondary data from the ‘Safety Status and Policy Tasks in Areas Concentrated by Foreigners’ conducted by the Korea Institute for Criminal and Justice Policy were used. As a result of the study, it was investigated that ties with neighbors and physical disorder had an effect on fear of crime in the characteristics of the local community in densely populated areas of foreigners. Also, as a result of comparing these influencing factors, it was found that foreigner prejudice, physical disorder, and ties to neighbors affected the fear of crime victims in the order of preference. Based on these research results, policy recommendations were presented to minimize the fear of crime victims as well as the perception of foreigners.

How Portrayal of Child Sexual Abuse in the News Media Increases Fear of Crime Among Guardians: The Case of Greater Malé Area, Maldives

A review of the recent local news media shows that there has been a notable increase in the media reporting of child sexual abuse (CSA) in the Maldives. This increase has been particularly noticeable after the 16th of January 2020. This study addresses whether this increase in reporting has had any impact on the community. Specifically, if overexposure to CSA reports in the local news media has given rise to fear of crime. The objectives of this study are to, firstly, ascertain whether news media representation of CSA can induce a fear of crime among the public, and secondly, investigate whether news media reporting of CSA has affected the public’s trust in social institutions. This study is characterised by a qualitative methodology with a phenomenological design and guided by cultivation theory, which stipulates that heightened exposure to crime media will increase fear of crime levels among the audience. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 9 participants. The findings of this study indicate that participants experience heightened fear during the increased CSA reporting waves. Further, all participants expressed avoidance and protective behaviours for their dependents. It was also found that episodic framing of CSA and focus on institutional culpability along with failure to shed light on the social causes of crime such as living situation or poverty has affected the public’s trust in social institutions. Parental neglect / family was also seen as a social institution that has failed to operate effectively to guard children against CSA. Hence this study has found that, in accordance with cultivation theory, increased exposure to CSA can increase fear of crime among the public.

The victimisation of farms in Ireland: fear of crime, social isolation and crime prevention

This paper explores farmer’s experiences of crime and their attitudes towards crime prevention in one rural hinterland. Farmer’s attitudes about safety and crime present a dichotomy: fear of victimisation was relatively high, yet few participants reported having been victimised, and there was a perception that agricultural crime was high in Ireland but low in their locality. Feelings of insecurity were partly influenced by the closure of rural Garda stations and uneven distribution of information technology. Participants were most concerned with theft of small machinery, violent coercion connected to fraudulent work, illegal dumping and trespassing, rather than thefts of expensive machinery and livestock. Participants reported being unable to afford some crime prevention measures and/or having insufficient time to implement them. The paper concludes by highlighting the relevance of Farrell and Tilley’s (2020) concept of elegant security to farm crime and discussing the role of community policing.

The urban fabric and fear of crime: the case of the compact city of Bilbao, Spain

ABSTRACT This research examines the influence that a compact city’s urban fabric can have on fear of crime. To this end, the Spanish city of Bilbao, a compact city where the population’s fear of crime is higher than might be expected given low rates of victimization, was taken as a case study. Based on a comparative study of five of the city’s neighborhoods, the research used an inter-scalar analysis. Surveys were used to gather data about individuals’ fear of crime and places they avoided; and an observational and morphological analysis was carried out to analyze the urban characteristics of these places. The study produced two main results: first, Bilbao witnesses little fear of crime during the day and moderate fear at night, usually centered around the same spaces; second, the spaces avoided are usually related to singularities in the urban fabric, which include hermetic buildings, large green areas, urban borders, and interruptions. We concluded that some aspects of fear of crime at an environmental level are related to shortcomings in urban planning at the territorial and district levels. The study contributes to the field by providing a methodological tool addressing a gap in research connecting individual fear of crime and urban planning.

Exploring Fear of Crime for Those Targeted by Romance Fraud

ABSTRACT This article assesses 3,259 romance fraud reports made by individuals to Scamwatch (Australian online reporting portal for fraud), between July 2018 – July 2019 (inclusive). It seeks to highlight experiences of fear of crime as articulated by the complainants. Drawing on frameworks used to analyze fear of crime (specifically the affective, behavioral and cognitive aspects of fear) the article is an exploratory assessment of how fear of crime is evident in those targeted by romance fraud. It builds a model for better understanding differing victim responses to romance fraud and the often-hidden harms involved around the anxieties of victims which importantly, can manifest in both online and offline environments.

Community participation in a low-income neighborhood: The salience of sociodemographic characteristics, perceptions and experience of violence, and neighborhood attachment.

While community participation may serve as a vehicle to improve health and socioeconomic outcomes for residents in poor communities, little research exists on the individual factors that influence community participation, particularly in contexts where violence is exceptionally high. This study examined the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics, perceptions, and experiences of violence, neighborhood attachment, and community participation in a low-income, under-resourced neighborhood in Johannesburg South Africa. The study used baseline data from 300 randomly selected households and multiple linear regression to assess the relationship between individual factors and community participation. The results suggest a high level of community participation, with religious organizational membership the most common. Being female, employed, and fear of violent crime were positively associated with community participation. Future research should include mixed methods and transdisciplinary research approaches for building our understandings of social justice and transformation-oriented community participation.