Perceived Risk and Fear of Crime: Role of Social and Physical Incivilities

Abstract

Scholars are paying close attention to incivilities and how they affect citizens' fear of crime. A common research finding is that neighborhood incivilities (e.g., abandoned storefronts, unkept lots, litter, noise, bench sleepers, public drunks) are often as powerful in generating feelings of fear as crime itself. The implication is that by removing the riffraff from the streets and graffiti from the walls, feelings of fear will be reduced. Moreover, community “clean-sweeps” will meet with public approval as they improve the overall quality of life in cities and neighborhoods. This article carefully examines the influence of a number of social and physical incivilities on two different reactions to crime—perceptions of risk and feelings of fear. The authors use a national data set of 1,101 randomly selected U.S. adults who have been interviewed by telephone. The data reveal significant relationships between social and physical incivility and perceptions of risk; incivility is also related to fear but less strongly so. To the extent that incivility is predictive of fear, its causal effect is mediated almost entirely through perceptions of risk to crime. This finding has received little attention to date.

Fear of Crime Among Chinese Immigrants

“…Environmental factors that have been extensively studied include neighborhood crime rates (Lewis & Maxfield, 1980), social ties in the community (Ross & Jang, 2000;Taylor, 2002), crime prevention strategies (Norris & Kaniasity, 1992), neighborhood attachment and satisfaction (Delisi & Regoli, 2000;Loo, 1986), and physical and social incivilities (Gibson, Zhao, Lovrich & Gaffney, 2002;LaGrange, Ferraro, & Supancic, 1992;Skogan, 1990). This line of research indicates that it is the perceptions of, rather than the objective conditions of a neighborhood that primarily affect fear of crime (Gibson et al, 2002;LaGrange et al, 1992;Perkins & Taylor, 1996). Thus, individuals on the same neighborhood block, although they encounter the same physical and social conditions, may perceive them differently.…”

Pathways to Outdoor Recreation, Physical Activity, and Delinquency Among Urban Latino Adolescents

“…To measure fear, we created a scale by averaging items used in past studies (though some were reworded for relevance) and that had face validity for capturing the emotional response aspect of crime concerns, distinguishable from assessments of risk [44,45]. Respondents were provided eight statements that asked whether the statements were not true at all (coded 1), sometimes true (coded 2), or mostly true (coded 3).…”

Miedo al crimen en estudiantes de la ciudad de Caracas

“…Según esta perspectiva el miedo al crimen es inseparable y dependiente de la comunidad (Farrall et al, 2007;Ferraro, 1995;Garland, 2001;Garofalo & Laub, 1978;Gerber et al, 2010;LaGrange, Ferrraro, & Supancic, 1992;Maxfield, 1987;Taylor & Hale, 1986). También los medios de comunicación tienen un impacto en la percepción de la inseguridad al informar, a menudo, sobre los crímenes más violentos.…”