U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Fear of Crime and Vulnerability: Using a National Sample of Americans to Examine Two Competing Paradigms

NCJ Number
238813
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 40 Issue: 2 Dated: March/April 2012 Pages: 134-141
Author(s)
Nicole E. Rader; Jeralynn S. Cossman; Jeremy R. Porter
Date Published
April 2012
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether physical vulnerability, social vulnerability, or a combination of both was more important in determining fear of crime in certain groups of people.
Abstract
The study found that both physical vulnerability and social vulnerability were significant predictors of fear of crime at the individual level, and that they both mediated one another to varying degrees. The findings also showed that social vulnerability indicators mediated the effects of a person's health, but not age or gender, on their fear of crime, while individual level physical indicators of vulnerabilities mediated the effects of social vulnerabilities and exacerbated the effect of race on fear of crime for both Blacks and Hispanics. This study examined whether physical vulnerability, social vulnerability, or a combination of both was more important in determining fear of crime in certain groups of people. Data for the study were obtained from nationally representative sample of individuals who had participated in the Panel Study on American Religion and Ethnicity in 2006. A set of descriptive factors were used to asses an individual's fear of crime and whether certain physical characteristics (age, gender, fair/poor health) and/or social characteristics (race, education level, income level, marital status) played a role in the person's level of fear. The results suggest that physical and social vulnerabilities are interdependent to some degree in explaining fear of crime levels, and that the direct effects of social vulnerabilities have more of an effect on physical vulnerabilities with the reverse being true to a lesser extent. Study limitations are discussed. Figure, tables, notes and references