NCJ Number
207759
Journal
Sociological Spectrum Volume: 24 Issue: 6 Dated: November-December 2004 Pages: 689-704
Date Published
November 2004
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This paper offers a theoretical reconceptualization of “fear of crime.”
Abstract
Criminological research has often focused on citizens’ fear of crime as a central point of inquiry. Most of this research places fear of crime as the dependant variable and presents perceived risk and constrained behaviors as two independent variables that help to cause fear of crime. The current paper presents the argument that the focus on fear of crime as a dependant variable in criminological research is misplaced. Instead, fear of crime should be conceived of as one indicator of a larger theoretical construct that the author labels “the threat of victimization.” The three components of “the threat of victimization” are identified as “the emotive component” (fear of crime), “the cognitive component” (perceived risk), and “the behavioral component” (constrained behaviors). Fear of crime is thus not perceived as a consequence of perceived risk and constrained behaviors, but rather as one variable engaged in a complex relationship with both perceived risk and constrained behaviors to produce “the threat of victimization.” This reconceptualization of fear of crime has important implications for future research in that it offers a multidimensional way of thinking about fear of crime. Figure, references