NCJ Number
217361
Journal
European Journal of Criminology Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2007 Pages: 59-86
Date Published
January 2007
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study compared perceptions of insecurity and fear of crime in Scotland and Iceland, with attention to how these perceptions were related to social factors in the two countries.
Abstract
Perceptions of insecurity and fear of crime were higher in Scotland than in Iceland. The researchers attributed this finding to the greater homogeneity of Iceland's population. Compared to Scotland, Iceland has stronger social integration, less pronounced class and income differences, and less polarization among its neighborhoods. Social integration theory, the neighborhood disorder perspective, and the late modernity/risk perspective combine to explain these findings. The modernity/risk perspective links feelings of insecurity and fear of crime to the impact of rising individualism and the dislodging of individuals from social identities and networks in a globalizing world. Data were obtained from the 2000 Scottish Crime Survey (SCS) and the 2002 Icelandic Crime Attitude Survey (ICAS). The SCS data were collected from a random sample of Scottish residents (n=5,059). Residents ages 16 and older were interviewed in their homes between January 28 and August 11, 2000. The ICAS data were collected from a random sample of Icelandic residents ages 18-80, who were interviewed between April 20 and May 2, 2002. Respondents under 18 years old and those above 80 years old were excluded from the Scottish data in order to match the Icelandic data, thus bringing the combined study sample for the 2 countries to 2,363. 7 tables and 69 references