Coping With Crime - Fear and Risk Management in Urban Communities

• NCJ Number: 82426
• Author(s): W G Skogan
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 13 pages
• Grant Number(s): 78-NI-AX-0057
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: Northwestern University
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: This paper was presented at the 1978 meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Dallas, Texas, November 8-12, 1978. Part of the Reactions to Crime Project.

Annotation

Findings are presented from a study that examined persons' efforts to reduce their risk of criminal victimization and their fear of crime in urban communities.

Abstract

Hypotheses are that (1) the motivation behind risk management (defensive tactics and reduction of exposure to risk) is concern about potential victimization; (2) those who engage in risk management perceive less actual risk than their assessment of potential risk would indicate; and (3) those who perceive their environment as threatening will continue to see themselves facing larger risks even in the face of risk management efforts. The survey, which was conducted in the fall of 1977, involved a sample size of about 1,370 spread evenly across the central cities of Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. The questionnaire measured (1) perception of risk of personal victimization, (2) exposure to risk of victimization, (3) concern about potential victimization, and (4) defensive tactics undertaken. Findings indicate that concern about crime is a powerful predictor of both limiting exposure to the risk of victimization and adopting defensive tactics. Further, engaging in risk management strategies does apparently ameliorate levels of risk to some extent; however, living in a threatening environment still continues to be a major determinant of people's assessments of their likelihood of being victimized by crime, regardless of their best efforts at risk management. Graphic data and five references are provided.