Crime as Hazard: Perceptions of Risk and Seriousness*

Abstract

The study of crime suffers from an inattention to the social consequences of criminal acts. Conceiving crimes within the larger context of '%hazard, " data are reported on the relative seriousness of conventional and white-collar crimes, as well as other hazards, using a sample of Washington state respondents. The results indicate that there is an inverse relationship between the perceived likelihood of a hazard and its seriousness. Generally, the more immediate the threat of a hazard, such as white-collar crimes, the more serious it is perceived to be. There are also implications from these consequences for perceptions of institutional effectiveness and interpersonal reIationshQs. This suggests that future studies of the consequences of criminaliw, especially white-collar and corporate violations, might be directed toward the notions of risk and, eventually, social trust.It has only been recently that sociologists have begun to examine the social costs of crime-the costs of crime for the social community, the social fabric. While there is seemingly no end to the number of estimates of physical and financial loss from crime, sociologists have failed to develop a conceptual base for determining the impact of crimes on the structure of interpersonal and institutional relationships in a community. This is particularly puzzling because sociologists have long indicated that white-collar crime especially has serious consequences for the sense of trust in communities and shared understandings of appropriate behavior (Sutherland, 1983;Cohen, 1966). This paper reports suggestions and preliminary research for such a conceptualization. CRIME AS HAZARDA hazard is a danger or the cause of some danger. Crime is both like and unlike other hazards. Like other hazards, crimes pose risk to persons, property, and/or moral sensibilities. Victimization from crime is similar to victimization from other hazards, such as natural disasters. In each case, life and/or property are at risk without reasonable expectation of retaliation-in the case of most crimes because the criminals are either not known to their victims or, in any case, because the law prohibits direct retaliatory action. In * We wish to acknowledge the financial assistance of the Social Research Center at Washington State University and National Science Foundation grant SES-8020864. A number of persons were involved in the larger study of which this is a part, but we would like particularly to thank Don Dillman for his advice in constructing the questionnaire. CRIMINOLOGY VOLUME 23 NUMBER 3 1985 389

Association between district-level perceived safety and self-rated health: a multilevel study in Seoul, South Korea

“…For example, murder, rape and personal theft may have stronger effects on the fear of crime than larceny and auto theft. Hence, the total crime rate that was used in this research might not be sophisticated enough to examine the association between the prevalence of crime in the district and the residents’ health condition 23. However, when we conducted a post-hoc analysis using a different measure, ‘5 index crime rate’, which includes five major serious crimes (ie, murder, robbery, rape, assault and theft) that has been adopted by the Korean police to indicate violent crime rate, still we could not find association with residents’ self-rated health.…”

Public perceptions of white-collar crime and punishment

“…Similarly, additional research found that a fear of crime measure was only significant under certain circumstances (Cohn, Barkan, & Halteman, 1991). Another study comparing public opinion on different types of crime revealed greater perceived risk of white-collar crime victimization than street crime, natural hazard, and nuisance crime victimization (Meier & Short, 1985). On the other hand, offenses that caused greater personal injury or property damage were perceived to be the most serious.…”

White-collar crime: Holding a mirror to the core

“…"Toward a Control Theory of White-Collar Offending" Wayward Capitalists "'On the Causes of "White-Collar Crime" "" Crimes of the Middle Classes E, Reactions of the Criminal Justice System Edethertz (1970) The Nature, Impact and Prosecution of White- Katz (1980) Hagan, Nagel-Bernstein, and Albonetti (1980) Levi (1987) Mann (1985 Wheeler, Mann, and Sarat (1988) F. Public and Media Reactions Cullen, Link, andPolanzi (1982) Evans andLundman (1983) Meier and Short (1985) Newman (1957) Swigert andFarrell (1980-1981) scholars. The criteria for including a given work were not haphazard, however; a high level of interrater reliability existed between us, and the titles we selected are cited regularly by other scholars (see, for example, the references to the essays in Schlegel and Weisburd 1992).…”