NCJ Number
180071
Date Published
1999
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Data from a 1996 survey of 6,333 Australian women were used to examine the influence of factors such as physical and social vulnerability and experiences of violence on women's perceptions of personal safety.
Abstract
The main focus of the Women's Safety Survey was the measurement of physical and sexual violence perpetrated on women by both males and females; the survey also measured abuse, harassment, and women's feelings of safety within the home and the community. In this survey, 70.3 percent of the participants felt unsafe when walking alone in their area after dark. This percentage was higher than the 47 percent reported by the 1996 British Crime Survey and the 45.3 percent from the 1991 Queensland Crime Victims Survey, but much lower than the 91 percent reported in a mailed questionnaire survey conducted in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1992. Fear of crime was greater among women who have lower incomes, those in older age groups, and those living with a partner than for other women. In addition, women who had experienced violence were more likely to be fearful of crime than were other women, particularly if they had been victims of domestic assault. These results and earlier findings that 58 percent of female homicide victims were killed by intimates or former intimates provided a strong argument for early intervention to prevent domestic violence and provide assistance to dysfunctional and violent families. Further research should also take place. Tables, figures, and 23 references