NCJ Number
86205
Date Published
1982
Length
9 pages
Annotation
While Australia's National Crime Victims Survey does not show fear of crime to be significant among the population, those having fear of crime tend to be female; elderly; widowed, separated, or divorced; of low economic status; and residents of large cities.
Abstract
Dwellings included in the stratified multistage area sample of Australia's National Crime Victims Survey were selected from all parts of Australia, excluding the Northern Territory, rural regions, and locations with a population of less than 500. Of 10,500 dwelling sites originally selected, 9,200 contained effective households, of which 8,414 provided data for the survey. Australians were not found to have the degree of fear and concern about crime which characterizes the United States. Only 1.8 percent of the respondents indicated that crime or fear of crime was something they did not like about their neighborhood. Fear of crime is remarkably constant among all the age groups surveyed up to the 60 and over group. Compared with the remainder of the sample, about twice as many of the 60 and over group felt 'very unsafe' in their neighborhoods. Further, of the respondents who said they felt very unsafe, 89.1 percent were women, and respondents who are widowed expressed a fear of crime much greater than that expressed by persons who had never married or married persons. The survey also indicated that generally persons of lower socioeconomic status -- the unemployed, the uneducated, and the poor -- have a greater fear of crime in their neighborhoods than persons of higher socioeconomic status. Respondents living in one of Australia's six State capital cities were more than twice as likely to feel 'very unsafe' walking in their neighborhoods at night than respondents living in other parts of the country. Tabular data and 15 notes are provided.