NCJ Number
82433
Date Published
1977
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Dimensions of fear of crime are examined from survey data.
Abstract
The first set of baseline data was obtained in a survey conducted in the fall of 1973 in Hartford, Conn., and updated information was collected in the late spring of 1975. In both years, the target area was oversampled to provide an adequate data base for the victimization questions. Questionnaire items were selected to correspond to three of the four approaches to measuring fear of crime suggested by Fowler and Mangione (1974). These were (1) estimates of crime as a community problem, (2) perceived risk of victimization, and (3) worry about becoming a victim. The study's intention was to determine whether these were empirically identifiable dimensions of fear of crime or an arbitrary set of categories which cut across empirical dimensions in some fashion. Data support part of the classification but contradict the rest. Estimates of crime as a community problem was clearly defined as a distinct factor in both years, but was divided into two components: serious crime issues and moral or social order problems. Items designed to measure perceived risk of victimization and worry about victimization did not produce distinct factors. They combined to form new groupings which divided according to the type of crime mentioned in the question. These new factors were labelled 'fear of crimes against the person' and 'fear of burglary.' Each of the personal fear factors contain both a risk or victimization component and an emotive or worry component. By using the four worry items, it appears that the emotive component of fear can be measured. By demonstrating a consistent factor pattern in data sets collected 2 years apart, a beginning is provided for future refinements of the concept of fear of crime. Tabular data, 16 references, and 3 footnotes are provided. Additional factor solutions are appended.