Essay about Fear of Crime

(Torres, S. 1998) Research indicates that fear of crime, whether self-imposed or realistic, can immobilize individuals, harm the local economy and negatively impact social interactions as well as the quality of life (Albanese, 1990 Skogan (1987) argues that crime victims believe that more crime exists, are worried about victimization and attempt to protect themselves. Parker and Ray (1990) as well as Krannich et al. (1989) revealed victimization to be a predictor related to fear of crime. Additional support for these findings was provided by Smith and Hill (1991), who showed that actual victimization appears to increase fear of crime by increasing the perception of vulnerability. (Torres, S. 1998) Research also shows that fear of crime among minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status is related to their vulnerability in the urban environment (Liska et al., 1982). The elderly who are physically vulnerable and less agile are more fearful of crime even though they are less likely to be victims. (Torres, S. 1998) The proliferation and presence of gangs in the United States is also linked to the concept of social incivilities and increased fear of crime. This problem of fear does not go away. The people not only have a constant fear, it continues to the next generation of people in

It allows us to examine what makes crime acceptable and desirable in the minds of potential criminals, and it gives us the tools necessary to use a proactive rather than reactive approach to crime control. To look at crime from a psychological point of view is nothing new. However, use of this technique may lead to better methods of deterrence. To begin, we must understand what the concepts are that have shaped the average person’s mind. In general the average person is faced with the concepts of determinism, free will, and social identity as they mature into adulthood.

Measuring crime is based on three main measurements; criminal justice system data, crime experience surveys and other sources called administrative data (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Firstly, crime first needs to be categorised into types of crime that is classified under the Australian and New Zealand Standard Offence Classification (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Only the main and select few offences are reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in collecting annual reported crimes (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Through ABS, it collects crime data in different ways such as crime reports, victimisations surveys, administrative data (higher courts, magistrates and policing agendas etc.,) and self-reports (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). Crime reports measure crimes such as homicide, robbery, rape, assault and more but is collected through police jurisdictions (Reid, 2012). The strength of crime reports provides additional information such as arrests, charges, officers assaults and characteristics of homicide victims (Reid, 2012). This helps to measure crime more effectively through gaining descriptions and knowledge of identifying crime and criminal behaviour more accurately (Reid, 2012). Administrative data is often helpful in collating data of sentences and jail sentences but fails to collect the ‘dark figure’ of crime (Hayes & Makkai, 2015). National Crime Victimisation Surveys (NCVS)

​The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) was formulated by the federal government’s Bureau of Justice Statistics to address non-reported issues by victims in the United States, according to the textbook. Many people are victim of crimes that are not reported to the proper authorities for whatever reason. Other potential crimes are also reported to the NCVS whereas citizen was almost victimized. The crime trends are used to categorize the incident, victim, and location of the criminal act or potential harmful act.

Fear of crime, especially random violence and new wave of "superpredators" by young Americans, is among the nation's greatest concerns (Lacayo 28). It has served as the motivation for countless numbers of people to change their lifestyles, take self-defense classes, install home security

Most people use second hand information as their core source of information about crime, this source of information usually being the media. When carrying out sample research in Birmingham, Susan Smith (1984) discovered that 52% of people obtained most of their information about crime from the media, 36% obtained it from hearsay or alleged experiences of friends and neighbours, 3% from their own experiences, and 1% from the police service themselves (cited in Jones, 2001; 8). However the media tend to exaggerate upon areas of criminal activity causing a moral panic. ‘A moral panic is a semi- spontaneous or media generated mass movement based on the perception that some individual or group,

In the United States, violent crime has been steadily declining since its peak in the early 1990s (Lott, 2013). Violent crime, as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, includes four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault (FBI, 2012). These crimes are measured by the Justice Department in terms of number reported by victims as well as those tried and convicted in a court of law (FBI, 2012). Despite the steady decrease, the vast majority of Americans admit to possessing a very genuine fear of violent crime both in their local neighborhoods and in the nation at large (Lott, 2013). When surveyed over the last several years, nearly half of the American population consistently believed violent crime had increased from the year prior (Cohn, 2013). In reality, the instances of violent crime had been and continue to be deteriorating at a rapid pace (Cohn, 2013).

However, Gross and Aday were not able to conclude if the fear of crime was cultivated by local television. The authors note that criminal activity tends to be reported more on local television and could be the reason for many individuals perceiving that crime is a problem. Gross and Aday conclude that personal experience of criminal activity does not relate to agenda setting. This is possibly due to the individual already having a negative experience that has potentially influenced their point of view going forward. When it came to how neighborhoods played into this, they were able to conclude that those who live in areas with a higher crime rate were less likely to be fearful. From this, Gross and Aday were able to conclude that the personal experience of an individual plays a more important role into their perception of the reality of crime rates rather than local

As (Newburn, 2013) distinguished, fear of crime is fundamental, but often deceptive concept to the

Secondly, the victims of the crime problem must be analysed. This is required so by knowing why targets and victims are attractive or vulnerable to the offenders, so crime prevention measures can be put into place to reduce this vulnerability. From the experience of the community safety officer, a number of the victims of crime were elderly people who would be seen by offenders to be

There is debate whether youth crime is really a problem to society or just an issue that is constructed by society. It is argued that media has influenced society’s views on this matter by categorising young people as ‘folk devils’ (Banks, 2013). Certain groups, episodes and people that pose a threat to society’s values is when a moral panic takes place (Cohen, 1972). For example, this can be seen nowadays when there is no actual threat but old people get intimidated when they see large groups of young people hanging about on streets. These influences led to policy change, increasing the level of social control. This means that youth crime may be perceived as a moral panic rather than an actual problem.

According to Webb et al, the news media is mostly saturated with crime and deviance For example, Richard Ericson et al (1991. p. 119) study of Toronto found that 45-71% of quality press and radio news was about various forms of deviance and its control, while Williams and Dickinson (1993. P. 119) found that British newspapers devote up to 30% of their news space to crime. However, while there is a fervent concern about crime by the media, they do give a wry image of crime and deviance. The distorted image of crime painted by the news media reflects the fact that news is a social construction. That is, news does not simply exist out there waiting to be gathered in and written up and written up by journalist. Rather, it is the outcome of a social process in which some potential stories are selected while others are

In a paper presented more than eight years ago, Furstenberg made an observation that has proven to be the understatement of the decade for researchers studying the fear of crime: "the relationship between crime and its consequences is neither obvious nor simple."' His observation is no less accurate today than it was eight years ago, despite the fact that our knowledge about the causes and consequences of the fear of crime has increased steadily during the period. Every advance that is made-whether by refining concepts, by specifying and testing relationships, by obtaining more comprehensive data, or by some other meansseems to generate more questions than it answers. But that should be expected; part of the nature of complex social phenomena

Are those members of our society who are the most fearful of crime also the most likely to become the victims of crime?

Fear is the number one obstacle everyone must overcome at some point in their life. When the word fear is brought up I like to think of past situations that I experienced. There are many different methods used to conquer and learn from our fears such and exposure therapy, having a growth mindset, and thinking positive. For example, when I was younger fear was my worst enemy, School was the main reason that caused my fear. My fear of failure was my biggest obstacle growing up so I used that as a method to learn from my fears.