Fear of Crime and Its Relationship to Directly and Indirectly Experienced Victimization: A Binational Comparison of Models

  • Harald Arnold
Chapter
Part of the Research in Criminology book series (RESEARCH CRIM.)

Abstract

Since the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (1967a) issued its General Report The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society two decades ago, fear of, and concern about, crime emerged as a public problem in the context of the discussion of crime as a national issue in the United States. Followed by the task force report, Crime and its Impact, (President’s Commission, 1967b) and supported by the rich material of the early field surveys (Biderman, Johnson, Mclntyre, & Weir, 1967; Ennis, 1967; Reiss 1967), a debate was initiated in political circles and scientific communities alike that focused on the causes and consequences of fear of crime and how to reduce it. Some conclusions have been as far reaching as to name fear of crime as serious a problem as crime itself. The impact of fear on the quality of individual and community life became and still is of direct concern for possible public policy and has important social-policy implications (Research & Forecasts, 1983; Skogan, 1983).

Keywords

Victimization Experience Violent Crime Property Crime Mail Survey Community Size 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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