NCJ Number
185545
Date Published
January 2000
Length
39 pages
Annotation
After assessing the state of knowledge regarding the fear of
crime, this chapter considers whether public fear of crime can
and ought to be controlled, as well as the moral and practical
implications of doing so.
Abstract
The discussion draws on the literatures of risk perception and
risk communication, along with research on the etiology of fear
and public beliefs about crime. In discussing the nature of fear,
the author advises that fear of being harmed is present in
virtually all animals and is essential to their survival; thus,
fear is not intrinsically bad. Rather, as the author cautions, it
is when fear is out of proportion to objective risk that it
becomes dysfunctional. Further, fear encompasses not only fear
for one's own personal safety ("personal fear"), but also fear
for other individuals whose safety one values ("altruistic
fear"). The author advises that research on the fear of crime has
failed to collect systematic data on altruistic fear or even
recognize its existence. A section of the chapter on the
measurement of fear notes that fear of crime can be measured by
soliciting self-reports from individuals or by monitoring
physiological processes associated with fear; there is a pressing
need to explore the uses of physiological measures of fear,
because the payoff in knowledge is potentially great. Some of the
questions that might be answered by using a continuous,
unobtrusive measure of fear are listed. Other sections of the
chapter focus on regulating public fear of crime, the fear of
crime and the perceived seriousness of offenses, fear and cues to
danger, the rationality of fear, the selling of fear, and the
consequences of fear. The author concludes that most citizens
have little scientific foundation for their beliefs about crime.
In daily life, they are constantly confronted with information
about crime from sources that may not appreciate nor care about
the accuracy of that information and that may use crime to
entertain, sell, advertise, exploit, or win votes. It is incumbent
on criminal justice officials to provide the public with reliable
information about crime, including information about the risk of
victimization for various criminal offenses; the sources and
likelihood of error in those estimates; the nature of
victimization events; and, where known, the personal, social, and
temporal/spatial characteristics that increase or reduce risk. 1
exhibit and 98 references
Date Published: January 1, 2000