Validating New Measures of the Fear of Crime

By J. Jackson. 2005

180 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This study assesses the scaling properties of some new measures of the fear of crime. The new conceptualization—a range of distinct but related constructs that constitute the fear of crime—comprises the interplay between emotion, risk perception and environmental perception. Data from a small‐scale survey are analysed using confirmatory factor analysis showing good scaling properties of the multiple indicators. Two implications of the new conceptualization for the rationality of the fear of crime are discussed. First, perceptions of the risk of crime seem to be a product of how individuals make sense of their social and physical environment. Second, the fear of crime may constitute such evaluations of community cohesion and moral consensus as well as specific experiences of ‘fear’ of ‘crime’—a way of seeing as well as a way of feeling. The conclusions consider ramifications for the rationality of the fear of crime, particularly in the context of reassurance policing in England and Wales.

Subfields: Nature and Landscape Conservation, Political Science and International Relations, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/27e1fe706e1501b6047333b362fe0e0ee568e72d

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In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. J. Jackson
2. Emily Gray
3. Stephen Farrall
4. Devon Johnson

In Political Science and International Relations

1. Emily Gray
2. J. Jackson
3. Devon Johnson
4. Stephen Farrall

In Sociology and Political Science

1. J. Jackson
2. Emily Gray
3. Stephen Farrall
4. Devon Johnson
5. B. Bradford
6. R. Collins

Citations in the corpus

• A psychological perspective on vulnerability in the fear of crime (2009, methodology): “To be sure, some studies have addressed likelihood and consequence appraisals (Denkers & Winkel, 1998a,b; Vrij & Winkel, 1991; Winkel, 1998, 1999; Winkel et al., 2003) and perceived control over victimization (Jackson, 2004, 2005).”
• Public Confidence in Policing: A Neo-Durkheimian Perspective (2007, unknown): “5 Details of the measures of fear of crime and environmental perceptions (social and physical) can be found in Jackson (2004) and Jackson (2005).”
• Reassessing the Fear of Crime (2008, methodology): “Not for commercial use or at Social Science Library on July 19, 2008 http://euc.sagepub.comDownloaded from Jackson 2004, 2005).”
• Anger about crime and support for punitive criminal justice policies (2009, background): “Regardless of which emotions are studied in the future, researchers should pay careful attention to issues of measurement as they design new survey items intended to capture affective responses (see Farrall, 2004; Hough, 2004; Jackson, 2005).”