Risk of Crime and Fear of Crime: A Realist Critique of Survey-Based Assumptions (From Victims of Crime: A New Deal?, P 164-176, 1988, Mike Maguire and John Pointing, eds. -- See NCJ-113954)

• NCJ Number: 113970
• Author(s): J Young
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 13 pages
• Sale Source: Open University Press
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

Traditional interpretations of the British Crime Survey (BCS), a victimization survey, in terms of victimization risk and the fear of crime do not take into account 'hidden' crime-risk rates nor the impact of crime as a function of 'compounding,' vulnerability, and victim-offender relationship.

Abstract

The 'packaged' analysis of the BCS is that crimes not reported to the police tend to be trivial and that the fear of crime, particularly among women and the elderly, does not accord with their risk of victimization. Crime-risk rates derived from the BCS fail to take into account victimizations respondents may be reluctant to acknowledge to BCS interviewers, such as domestic and sexual assault. Also, the crimes which inner city residents do not report to police are often serious crimes, which often go unreported because of low confidence in the police. The assumption that fear of crime is generally unrelated to victimization risk among women fails to consider that women not only suffer crime per se but also encounter a flood of incivilities and harassment which men do not experience. Such harassment compounds the fear of serious sexual attacks. Women's powerlessness (vulnerability) economically, socially, and physically is also a factor that intensifies fear of crime. Women's fear of crime is also influenced by the relational values of patriarchy, whereby men are conditioned to dominate and control women and women are conditioned to be submissive. 1 note.