Fear of Crime
| Author | Lloyd G. Waller/Corin Bailey/Stephen Johnson |
| Profession | Senior Lecturer in Methodology and Political Sociology and Head/Chair of the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies, Mona, and Director of the Centre for Leadership and Governance, a research and policy unit within the Department of Government, UWI/Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, ... |
| Pages | 21-38 |
Fear of Crime
RESEARCHING FEAR OF CRIME
proposed that the fear of crime was an emotional response
to ‘dread or anxiety about crime, or symbols that a person
associates with crime’ (3). J. Garofalo, (1981) argued that
modern conceptualisations of fear of crime must be careful
to make the distinction between ‘actual’ and ‘anticipated’
fear. The response of someone who is walking alone on
the street in an area known for its crime (actual) would be
considerably different from that of someone describing
how they would feel were they faced with that situation
(anticipated). Garofalo believed that, in reality, actual fear,
was chronic in a relatively small number of people, but
occurred on isolated occasions for most. As such, he argued
must take into consideration the situation, as well as the
frequency of experiencing such a situation.
directly or indirectly contribute to an attitude of fear of
crime among individuals (Box et al. 1988; Furedi 2006;
Reiner 2002). The various explanations of the fear of crime
vulnerability, environmental clues and conditions, personal
police and criminal justice systems, perceptions of personal
risk and seriousness of various offences (Box et al. 1988).
22 ¦ FEAR OF CYBERCRIME
WHAT CONSTITUTES FEAR?
to the well-being of an individual (van der Wurff and Stringer
the term anxiety interchangeably with fear. D. Chadee, L.
Austen and J. Ditton (2007) cautioned against this practice,
arguing instead that they should be treated as two separate
constructs. M. Hough (1995), made the distinction between
anxiety and worry – in that anxiety related to the perception
of risk as highly likely, while worry was not necessarily in
keeping with actual risk. Similarly, Anthony Harriott (2004)
while anxiety was a rational reaction to actual levels. With
this in mind, fear could be viewed as a manifestation of
anxiety and worry, whereby the result is dependent on the
interaction between the two constructs (Kinlocke 2008).
the failure of researchers to distinguish between fear and the
perception of risk or of a threat. As such, measures of risk of
victimisation have often been confused with measures of fear
(Ferraro and LaGrange 1987; Ferraro 1995). The perception
of risk should instead be viewed as one of the critical factors
1995). Risk is said to exist once an individual is placed in
a situation of vulnerability in which the vulnerability of the
situation is subjectively determined by the victim.
DETERMINANTS OF FEAR
Physical Environment
There is a well-established spatial element to fear of
crime as people commonly indicate that their fear of
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