Crime, Women, and the Quality of Urban Life

• NCJ Number: 80065
• Journal: Signs Volume: 5 Issue: 3, supplement Dated: (Spring 1980) Pages: S144-S160
• Author(s): M T Gordon; S Riger; R K LeBailly; L Heath
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper examines the extent of urban women's fear, the relationship between fear and the risk of rape victimization, and the consequences of crime and the fear of crime for both urban women and men.

Abstract

These issues are explored with data collected from indepth interviews with women from six neighborhoods in Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Separate questions were asked about the risk of rape, fear, and self-protective behavior. Findings strongly support previous research results indicating that fear of crime among urban residents is pervasive but that women express more fear than men, whether it is measured in terms of perceptions of neighborhood safety or worry about physical safety in day-to-day activities. Findings also agree with previous research suggesting that behavioral correlates of this fear for women include engaging in significantly more precautionary behaviors than do men. The impact of crime and the fear of crime on men's lives is not as easily documented, but the data do show that men are also affected. The findings that women's perceived risk of rape and feelings of vulnerability contribute importantly to their greater fear suggest that social policies designed to reduce fear should focus on these two factors. Policymakers might begin by promoting self-defense classes for women and other measures that enhance women's perceptions of their own strength. Although a variety of rape prevention measures have been proposed, too many ignore the cultural or systemic factors which support or even promote rape, such as the glorification of violence against women in some advertising. In the case of rape, this has meant that women's victimization implicitly has been attributed to traits or behaviors of the rape victim or to psychological disorders of the rapist. Preventive strategies involving changes in the social system cannot be overlooked. Figures, tables, and 21 footnotes are provided. (Author summary modified)