Fear of Victimization, Attitudes to the Police and Mass Media Reporting (From Victims and Criminal Justice, P 637-653, 1991, Gunther Kaiser, Helmut Kury, et al., eds. -- See NCJ-132477)

• NCJ Number: 132501
• Author(s): S Lamnek
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Max-Planck-Institute Fur Auslandisches und Internationales Strafrecht
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Germany (Unified)

Annotation

This report on the results of a survey of the Munich (Germany) public that examined their fear of crime and attitudes toward police also considers the mass media's role in the creation of the fear of crime.

Abstract

The latter portion of the study performed a content analysis of crime articles published in Munich newspapers and compared these findings with survey results on the fear of crime. The survey found that the majority of Munich citizens between 16 and 60 years of age feel safe in the city. Only 8.4 percent felt insecure. A total of 12.1 percent of the females feel very unsafe, and 4.5 percent of the males have such a feeling. Women consider themselves less safe than do the men in both their own neighborhoods and their own homes. The feeling of insecurity on public transportation is more pronounced among women and older people. Positive attitudes toward the police are greater among women and older citizens over 50 years old. The 20 to 29 year-old age group is the most critical of police. Fear of crime tends to be related to media reporting of crime when the media user can identify with the location of the crime or the characteristics of the victim. 9 tables and 8 references