Perceived Unsafety and Fear of Crime: The Role of Violent and Property Crime, Neighborhood Characteristics, and Prior Perceived Unsafety and Fear of Crime

Abstract

Perceived unsafety, fear of crime, and avoidance were studied in relation to different types of crime, crime in different time perspectives, concentrated disadvantage, collective efficacy, urbanity, age structure, and neighborhood disorder. Four data sources were used on a large Swedish city; a community survey from 2012 and 2015 among residents, census data on sociodemographics, police data on reported violent (assault and robbery in the public environment), and property crimes (arson, property damage, theft, vehicle theft, and residential burglary) and geographical information on local bus stops and annual passengers visiting these bus stops. Collective efficacy primarily, but also concentrated disadvantage, was strongly related to perceived unsafety, across 102 neighborhoods. Collective efficacy was strongly related to fear of crime. It was not viable to relate the neighborhood variables with avoidance, however. Fear of specific violent crimes was different from fear of specific property crimes and should for future reference be examined separately. Crime, visible disorder, urbanity, and age structure do not seem as important.

Psychological Distress Among Domestic Burglary Victims: A Systematic Review of Possible Risk and Protective Factors

“…Studies of the first subcategory suggest that, on average, domestic burglary victims experience less psychological distress than victims of violent and sexual crimes, but that some of them experience just as much psychological distress (e.g., Kunst & Koster, 2017; Lurigio, 1987). Studies of the second subcategory suggest that domestic burglary victimization is associated with a wide array of psychological distress indices, including fear of crime (e.g., Doyle et al, 2021), unhappiness (Staubli et al, 2014), dissatisfaction with life (e.g., Cohen, 2008), and anxiety and depression (e.g., Kilian et al, 2021). In some cases, these psychological costs may eventually result in social problems, such as divorce (e.g., Tark et al, 2008), behavioral problems, such as withdrawal and aggression (e.g., Ramey & Harrington, 2019), or physical ailments, such as cardiovascular health problems (e.g., Browning et al, 2012) and adiposity (e.g., Lee et al, 2019).…”