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Fear of Crime Revisited: Examining the Direct and Indirect Effects of Disorder, Risk Perception, and Social Capital

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Abstract

Fear of crime has long been considered a significant social problem, spurring decades of academic research and leading to a variety of policy initiatives. Building on prior research, this study investigated the direct and indirect effects of demographic characteristics, social and physical disorder, and prior victimization on fear of crime. Further, it assessed the direct and indirect effects of perceived risk on fear. Finally, the research examined the extent to which social capital mediated the impact of these variables on fear. Using data from a survey of residents in a southeastern city, analyses reveal that victimization and disorder significantly predict fear of crime, and that risk perception and social capital mediate the relationship between disorder and victimization on fear. Further, structural equation models show a number of interesting indirect effects. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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Notes

  1. NCVS was formerly known as the NCS (National Crime Survey)

  2. We use Putnam’s definition but recognize that social capital has been defined in various ways and that scholars disagree over how to measure it (Cancino 2005; Castle 2002; McNulty and Bellair 2003; Sharp 2001).

  3. It should be noted that measures of social capital (and related constructs) lack consistency which makes cross-study comparisons difficult (see Bursik and Grasmick 1993; Franklin et al. 2008).

  4. This city provides a unique setting for examining fear of crime. It is a medium sized city that has experienced a significant population increase in recent years. It grew over 30% from 1990 to 2000, which is over twice the rate for the state as a whole (U.S. Bureau of the Census 2000). It is a mix of urban, suburban and rural areas.

  5. Research has found that lower participation in surveys has not dramatically reduced the validity of the results (see Keeter et al. 2000).

  6. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the racial make up of the city was 66.9% white, 28.5% black, and 2% Hispanic or Latino, the median age was 34.7, and the gender make up was 48.6% male and 51.4% female. About 28% of the city’s residents had a high school (or equivalent) education, and 25% had a bachelor’s degree or higher. Approximately 23% of residents reported never being married, 59.6% were currently married, and 17.9% were separated, divorced, or widowed. Approximately 75% of residents were home owners and 25.1% were renters (U.S. Bureau of the Census 2000). Our sample is older and more likely to be female, college educated, married, and homeowners compared to the general population.

  7. Our measure is “perception” of disorder. Prior research has found that subjective measures of disorder are moderately to highly correlated with objective measures of disorder (Ross and Jang 2000; LaGrange et al. 1992). Also, subjective, individual-level perceptions of disorder have a much stronger relationship with fear than objective neighborhood-level incivilities (Covington and Taylor 1991).

  8. Correlations between the exogenous demographic variables were estimated but not presented in the figure for the sake of formatting.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, 23529, USA

    Randy Gainey & Allison T. Chappell

  2. Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Mariel Alper

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  1. Randy Gainey
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  2. Mariel Alper
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  3. Allison T. Chappell
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Correspondence to Allison T. Chappell.

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Gainey, R., Alper, M. & Chappell, A.T. Fear of Crime Revisited: Examining the Direct and Indirect Effects of Disorder, Risk Perception, and Social Capital. Am J Crim Just 36, 120–137 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-010-9089-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-010-9089-8

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