Greater Fear Of Crime Research Articles

State-Terror and Tolerance of Deviance: A Cross-National Analysis Using World Values Survey Data

This study intends to extend the work of ecological predictors of tolerance of deviance to state terror. Utilizing a multilevel model and a cross-national survey of 125,129 respondents from 72 countries, this study finds that state terror and a worse perception of human rights correlates with a lower tolerance of deviance in line with Rational Choice Deterrence Theory (RCDC). The effect of state terror on tolerance of deviance is moderated by perception of human rights with those perceiving a worse respect for human rights in milieus of higher state terror are less open to deviance in line with RCDC. Further support for RCDC comes from those living in over policed neighborhoods being less open to deviance when they perceive a worse respect for human right. However, lower confidence in security services and greater interference by the same predicts greater tolerance of deviance. Support for Weberian legitimacy also comes from higher country level corruption, more terrorism incidents in a country, greater fear of crime and crime victimization of respondent or immediate family predicting greater justifiability of deviance.

Fear of crime perceptions of university students

In this research, university students’ perceptions of fear of crime are examined in terms of sex, nationality, living area, marital status, victimisation and disorder. The aim of the research is to observe fear of crime literature’s key parameters on university students. Data was obtained from 330 university students studying in one of the state universities through a survey. Bivariate and multivariate results show that female students experience a greater fear of crime compared to male students. Fear of crime is greater amongst Turkish students as opposed to Turkish Cypriot students. Also, it is found that a high perception of disorder factors has an impact on fear of crime among women. Lastly, this study found that neither direct nor indirect victimisation has an impact on fear of crime.

Immigration Attitudes Before and After Tragedy in Copenhagen: The Importance of Political Affiliation and Safety Concerns

This research analyzes attitudes on immigration before and after the February 14–15, 2015 Copenhagen shootings. Little research has been conducted on changes in immigration beliefs pre‐ and postcrisis events, and, further, this research has not closely considered how political views and safety concerns may operate within immigration beliefs in an additive, interactive, or mediating fashion. Using the 2014 and 2015 Copenhagen Area Surveys, the latter conducted shortly after the February shootings, our findings show that taking the survey either before or after the shootings did not shape immigration policy preferences. Instead, the findings reveal that right‐leaning political affiliation and a greater fear of crime are the strongest predictors of anti‐immigration attitudes. Implications center on new approaches to understanding societal responses to crisis events.

Is the Effect of Procedural Justice on Police Legitimacy Invariant? Testing the Generality of Procedural Justice and Competing Antecedents of Legitimacy

This study tests the generality of Tyler’s process-based model of policing by examining whether the effect of procedural justice and competing variables (i.e., distributive justice and police effectiveness) on police legitimacy evaluations operate in the same manner across individual and situational differences. Data from a random sample of mail survey respondents are used to test the “invariance thesis” (N = 1681). Multiplicative interaction effects between the key antecedents of legitimacy (measured separately for obligation to obey and trust in the police) and various demographic categories, prior experiences, and perceived neighborhood conditions are estimated in a series of multivariate regression equations. The effect of procedural justice on police legitimacy is largely invariant. However, regression and marginal results show that procedural justice has a larger effect on trust in law enforcement among people with prior victimization experience compared to their counterparts. Additionally, the distributive justice effect on trust in the police is more pronounced for people who have greater fear of crime and perceive higher levels of disorder in their neighborhood. The results suggest that Tyler’s process-based model is a “general” theory of individual police legitimacy evaluations. The police can enhance their legitimacy by ensuring procedural fairness during citizen interactions. The role of procedural justice also appears to be particularly important when the police interact with crime victims.

Neighborhood Residents’ Fear of Crime: A Tale of Three Cities

Neighborhood characteristics impact residents’ fear of crime. Empirical research supports these ideas, but the majority of these studies are based on residents of a single city. The relationship between social control, disorder, perceptions of crime, and residents’ fear of crime has not been fully explored across multiple cities. The current study examines the relationship between residents’ perceptions of neighborhood safety, disorder, and social control using survey data from residents across three cities in the United States. The findings suggest that shared expectations lead to decreased fear, while increased levels of social disorder lead to a greater fear of crime across each of the three cities. Other factors, including perceptions of crime, exposure to victimization, and demographic characteristics are not consistently related to the fear of crime. This suggests the structural impact of city factors, or increases in disorder and crime, might be influencing the perceptions of risk and constrained behaviors of residents.

THE ROLE OF NEIGHBORHOOD COLLECTIVE EFFICACY AND FEAR OF CRIME IN SOCIALIZATION OF COPING WITH VIOLENCE IN LOW‐INCOME COMMUNITIES

The influences of public housing, caregiver fear of crime, and collective efficacy on messages caregivers relay to their offspring regarding coping with community and peer violence were examined using a 3-wave prospective design. Caregivers (N = 358; 92% African American/Black) living in moderate to high violence areas of a midsized southern city completed face-to-face interviews. Coping suggestions were coded at Wave 3 from audiotaped responses to a vignette measure depicting five neighborhood-based and five school-based situations involving violence or aggression. Path models indicated that residing in public or Section 8 housing was associated with greater fear of crime and lower collective efficacy. Fear of crime was associated with more suggestions to use active coping strategies for neighborhood-based situations involving violence; collective efficacy was associated with messages to use less aggression for school-based situations. These findings extend our understanding of caregiver socialization of coping processes in poor and underresourced neighborhoods.

Neighborhood Conditions and Fear of Crime

Research indicates that men and women commonly express different amounts of fear about crime. This article explores the sex difference in fear of crime levels by assessing differences in fear of crime in relation to urban environments. Using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Criminal Victimization and Perceptions of Community Safety, the present analysis employs multinomial logistic regressions to examine gradations in two measures of fear of crime. Some aspects of the neighborhood environment do differentially influence men and women’s fear of crime levels, including serious crime in the neighborhood, physical and social disorder. Findings highlight that women’s greater fear of crime is partially due to higher perceived risks through signals of neighborhood conditions.

Aging and Fear of Crime: An Experimental Approach to an Apparent Paradox

Many fear of crime studies have revealed an interesting paradox: Although older adults are less likely to be victims, they report a higher fear of crime than younger adults. In this study, we experimentally manipulated vicarious exposure to crime. Younger (ages 18-29) and older adults (ages 61-78) were randomly assigned to view either a vivid video reenactment of a violent crime or a crime report newscast. Subjects in the violent video condition demonstrated significantly higher fear than did control group participants, but this effect was reliable only for younger adults. The older adults appeared to be unfazed by the violent video, and reported significantly less fear than the younger group. This could not be explained away on the basis of age group differences in neighborhood crime rates, victimization experience, or media exposure. Thus, when greater fear of crime is found in older adults, "old age" per se is not the cause.

Women's Fear of Crime in Canadian Public Housing

That women have a greater fear of crime than men has often been termed irrational or paradoxical, but this article joins those who argue that the gendered nature of fear is well grounded. The authors investigate the extent to which various factors—including prior victimization, perceptions of neighborhood disorder, routine activities, and neighborhood satisfaction—predict women's perceptions of personal safety. Survey and semistructured interview data were collected from 219 women living in six urban public housing estates in eastern Ontario. Both disorder and neighborhood satisfaction have a moderately strong impact on perceptions of insecurity, whereas prior victimization is a negligible factor. One conclusion is that improving services (e.g., removing garbage, graffiti, vandalized items) may reduce fear as much as reducing crime.

Growing Fears, Rising Crime: Juveniles and China's Justice System

While the officially reported incidence of juvenile offenses in the People's Republic of China is significantly lower than that in much of the remainder of the world community, youthful offenders account for about 75% of all criminal cases. This article provides some preliminary insights into juvenile justice in China based on the data available. The study examines survey data from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and establishes that juveniles in China have a greater fear of crime than their elders and are less willing to cooperate with and less trusting of the justice system. Next, the analysis examines statistical data, both national and provincial, and establishes that youthful offenders account for a disproportionate amount of total crime committed. The work briefly examines crime causation theories forwarded by Chinese scholars and concludes by focusing on gongdu (work-study) schools, examining their philosophy, structure, and their apparent success in reforming juvenile offenders.

Salience of Crime and Support for Harsher Criminal Sanctions

This paper examines the relation between the salience of crime and support for harsher legal sanctions (capital punishment, harsher courts) in American public opinion. Many of the “simple theories” of effect are not supported. People who are more afraid or who have been victimized do not necessarily favor harsher sanctions. At the ecological level, in environments which are characterized by higher rates of crime and greater fear of crime, respondents do not express a greater demand for harsher sanctions. However, public opinion and the “ideology” of crime and punishment are much more consistent in high risk areas.