The topic chosen for this discussion is Victimization and the Fear of Crime . There are many misconceptions about victimization and the fear of crime. It is common to find people who have experienced little or no crime to develop a fear of crime. Moreover, the levels of crime within a region can increase or decrease over time without impacting the people's fear of crime. While fear of crime can be distinguished as a social phenomenon, it significantly affects the quality of community life (Krulichová, 2018). On an individual level, the fear of crime can cause anxiety, paranoia, or other psychological complications. From a social perspective, the fear of crime causes prejudice, segregation, and discrimination, leading to more insecurities among people and communities (Krulichová, 2018). For instance, fear of crime can force the wealthy to seek extra protection for themselves and their property, secluding the rest. As such, crime is displaced to the less fortunate who cannot afford essential security.
Several questions arise while exploring victimization and fear of crime. Do regions with high crime rates experience high levels of fear? Do people who suffer the most crimes experience more fear? From an individual perspective, people who enjoy low levels of victimization report high levels of fear (McNeeley & Yuan, 2017). In essence, people are fearful of crime despite a majority of them not being victims of crime. A mismatch between crime and fear is that regions that record fewer crime rates can also be perceived as less secure, signifying that fluctuations in crime rates do not contribute to the overall levels of fear (Singer et al., 2019). While different crimes have varying impact on fear, the fear of crime is arguably a complex social dynamic. Therefore, the relevance of fear of crime and victimization warrants more research to determine factors, such as demographics and regional factors, that impact an individual's perception of fear of crime.
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References
Krulichová, E. (2018). Life satisfaction and happiness: discussing the impact of fear of crime and victimization. Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philosophica et Historica , 24 (2), 23-37. DOI: 10.14712/24647055.2018.2
McNeeley, S., & Yuan, Y. (2017). A multilevel examination of the code of the street’s relationship with fear of crime. Crime & Delinquency , 63 (9), 1146-1167. DOI: 10.1177/0011128715624930
Singer, A. J., Chouhy, C., Lehmann, P. S., Walzak, J. N., Gertz, M., & Biglin, S. (2019). Victimization, fear of crime, and trust in criminal justice institutions: A cross-national analysis. Crime & Delinquency , 65 (6), 822-844. DOI: 10.1177/0011128718787513
