It has been well established that fear of crime is, at least in part, influenced by the media. Past research has shown that escalation of fear in many Western societies has resulted from increased media coverage of crime. Despite the diversity of media outlets, a common discourse emergescriminal behaviour is a product of bad people, from poor neighbourhoods, preying on innocent and undeserving victims. Critical approaches to the study of media show crime reporting as a political act, involving deepening stereotypes and Othering of marginalized people based on their age, race, and gender. Missing from the literature is a detailed portrait of the nature of media representations of crime and how it may shift over time. The goal of my research is to fill this gap by analyzing how differences between offenders and victims’ race, age, and gender as described in newspaper crime reports significantly impact the probability that these articles would contain language promoting a discourse of fear and marginalization. A combination of critical theoriesincluding critical criminology, feminism, postcolonial theory, and critical discourse analysisare used to develop themes related to media representations of gender, race, and language. Because race, gender, and age in the context of crime cannot be extracted from class, discussions of class also appear throughout the thesis. Four newspapersthe Vancouver Sun, Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Winnipeg Free Press, and the Toronto Starwere examined over a span of thirty years through a mixed methods approach combining content and critical discourse analyses. A total of 480 newspapers and 1, 190 crime articles constituted the empirical sample for this research. Two themesfear and marginalizationas well as twelve subthemes emerge from the empirical and theoretical literature. The research results show that differences in language can be observed in Canadian crime reports based on mentions of race, age, and gender of both the offenders and victims. Throughout all thirty years, articles indicated that crimes against white victims used fearful language, while visible minority victims were blamed for their victimization. White offenders were disproportionately criminalized and dehumanized with depictions that frequently undermined their claim to normal membership of their racial group through extraordinary character defect. Visible minority offenders were linked to poverty. Portrayals of female offenders accurately depicted them as generally low risk; both female offenders and female victims were treated in a largely equal manner. Women offenders were dichotomized into sexualized bad girls or malicious black widows. Female victims were either depicted as bad victims (i.e. racialized victims) who were blamed for their circumstances, or good victims who garnered sympathy through negative portrayals of their offenders. Young offenders and victims were often linked to gang activity, and language regarding them contained a mix of both fear and marginalization. The dissertation concludes by providing support to the critical paradigms with which it engages, demonstrating the need to include an analysis of critical criminology, race, gender, and a deconstruction of language. The study directs our attention to the necessity for further research on the benefits of educational programs for both those disseminating the discourse of crime and those consuming it.

Thesis (MPsy(Specialisation))--University of South Australia, 2003.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2001. / "A thesis submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Western Sydney (Hawkesbury)" Bibliography : leaves 206-218.

Fear of crime is an important topic in research as well as in public opinion. However, data on fear of crime is limited and difficult to collect, being heavily reliant on surveys with different methods of operationalization yielding different results. This paper aims to investigate if an alternative method can be used to estimate fear of crime. Using a large representative unique data on fear of crime from Google Trends, I analyze if fear of crime can be estimated in Sweden during years 2011-2019, using The Swedish Crime Survey as benchmark. The results show that the method is accurate for country-level and the most populated regions of Sweden, but less so for the lesser populated regions. This method can be used to estimate fear of crime in a time- and money-efficient way, producing daily estimates at little to no cost.

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This study was conducted on-site in Istanbul, Turkey, to determine the effects that mass media has on citizens' perceptions about fear of crime, in particular, and fear, in general. Specifically, the study was designed to (1) determine the tendency of citizens' media consumption, (2) determine the level of fear of crime among Turkish citizens, (3) establish the effect of media on citizens' fear of crime, and (4) determine if gender, age, educational level, neighborhood, and monthly income have an independent effect on fear of crime. To achieve this purpose, after administering a survey in Istanbul, the researcher collected appropriate data and then utilized regression analysis to examine the relationship between media variables and fear of crime. A survey consisting of three parts was administered to 545 Turkish citizens over the age of 18 who currently reside in Istanbul, Turkey. In Part I of the survey, respondents were asked to identify their trends in relation to media consumption, and in Part II respondents were asked to report their feelings about fear of crime. Finally, Part III consisted of socio-demographic characteristics including gender, age, marital status, level of education, and income. The media variables used for this study were, general TV viewing, watching crime drama, watching TV news, listening to radio news, reading newspaper news, and reading Internet news. Regarding the independent effects of socio-demographic variables on fear of crime, only gender was found to be significantly related thereby supporting the research hypothesis. From six media variables, only watching crime drama show and reading Internet news found to be related with individuals' fear of crime; however, this relation disappeared after controlling with socio-demographic variables. In addition, no cultivation effect could be found among the sub-groups of sample.

A person's level of fear of crime or even their perceived fear of crime can affect how they view the Stand Your Ground Law and whether it is seen as beneficial or harmful to the general public. I begin with a discussion of the Stand Your Ground Law. Next, I report on research that examines the fear of crime and how it may shape opinions on the law as well as an individual’s level of fear. My research explores the relationship of these variables using survey data. I examine the attitudes of college students regarding their fear of crime to explore variables that impact their levels of fear and their opinions regarding the Stand Your Ground Law.

In the 1960s, the government formed the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice to looked at the problem of crime and fear of crime in modern American society. In addition to looking at these issues, the Commission also looked at ways to potentially reduce both crime and fear of crime. One of the primary outcomes of the Commission's report was that policing agencies in the United States needed to fundamentally alter the way they served their communities, notably by transitioning to community-oriented policing (COP). Starting in the 1970s, law enforcement agencies around the nation began to embrace the COP philosophy in the hopes that it would effectively reduce crime. A plethora of research suggests that the crime reduction benefits of COP are dubious at best; however, COP shows great promise in reducing fear of crime in neighborhoods. However, scholars remain uncertain as to why COP can effectively reduce fear. The uncertainty surrounding the efficacy of COP lies in the incomplete theoretical understanding of fear of crime. Three largely divergent fear of crime models have been developed. The first, the social integration model, posits that fear is influenced by the degree to which a person is integrated into their community. The thought being that the more socially integrated a person is, the stronger the sense of informal social and thus the lower the fear of crime. Research generally--although not always--supports this notion. Other scholars developed the disorder model, which posits that disorderly conditions or other signs of incivility can lead residents to feel as though informal social control has broken down, and thus elevate levels of fear. Again, this notion is well supported in the research. The final model suggests fear of crime is a result of sociodemographic differences (e.g., gender and age) that make a person feel more vulnerable to victimization, and thus those feeling most vulnerable exhibit the highest levels of fear. The findings from this so-called vulnerabilities model receive inconsistent support in the research. The problem with the extant fear of crime research is that it largely relies on singular explanations of fear. In other words, it operates from the premise that one of the models described above is responsible for residents' levels of fear. Recently, scholars have begun developing multimodel explanations in an effort to improve criminologists' ability to explain fear of crime. However, this multimodel approach is not a complete theoretical model of fear because it fails to account for the likely existence of a reciprocal effect between fear of crime and social integration. Further, it fails to account for the effects of social context may exert on fear and the way in which neighborhood differences may condition the individual-level fear of crime relationships. This dissertation, using two data sources, attempts to predict fear of crime using a more complete fear of crime model than those used in much of the prior research. The first source of data used is the 2004 Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office community survey (N=1898), which was distributed to a random sample of households in unincorporated Hillsborough County. Additionally, to create measures of social context, this dissertation utilizes data from the 2000 United States Census for census designated places in unincorporated Hillsborough County--which serve as the proxy for neighborhoods (N=30). Based on theory and prior research, it was hypothesized that the best fear of crime model would contain elements from all three theoretical models developed in prior research. Additionally, it was hypothesized that there would be a significant and negative reciprocal effect from fear of crime to social integration. Finally, it was hypothesized that social context would condition the relationships between individual-level fear of crime predictors. As predicted by the hypothesis, the empirically strongest fear of crime model did contain elements from all three explanatory fear of crime models. Additionally as hypothesized, there was a significant reciprocal relationship between fear of crime and social integration. However, contrary to expectations the relationship was positive. In other words, fear of crime motivated residents to become more socially integrated in their neighborhoods. Finally, as hypothesized social context did condition the effects of the individual-level variables. However, contrary to the hypotheses proffered, social context augmented the size of the effect between the individual-level variables. The findings from this dissertation offer some interesting insights for scholars and posivy makers alike. The findings suggest that it is imperative to use a more complete (e.g., multimodel) approach when explaining fear of crime. Additionally, it is necessary to account for the reciprocal relationship between fear of crime and social integration; otherwise research will yield deceptive parameter estimates for social integration on fear of crime. Lastly, social context matters and needs to be considered in further research. However, the theoretical model in this dissertation--while a step forward--does not represent the theoretical model to explain fear of crime. The results suggest that the model may be even more complex than the model presented here. The results of this dissertation for policy makers suggest that community oriented policing strategies are likely an effective mechanism for reducing residents fear of crime for two reasons; 1) the strengthening of social integration programs in neighborhoods and 2) focusing on reducing disorder problems in neighborhoods. Study strengths and limitations, as well as directions for future research are discussed.

<p>The object of this project is to investigate people’s fear of crime. By means of three studies, the dissertation illustrates how the fear of crime is understood in Anglo-Saxon and Nordic research, by a group of interview subjects and also how this fear is depicted in Stockholm’s daily press.</p><p>In the research, fear of crime is viewed as an individual problem that is not linked to exposure to crime. Instead the fear is explained by reference to individual factors, situational factors and societal conditions. The views described in the research have changed over time, with inter alia an increasing number of groups being described as experiencing fear.</p><p>The interview study is based on 28 in-depth interviews with persons living in different areas of Stockholm. In summary, the interview subjects are not afraid of crime, and they say they do not think about crime in the course of their daily lives. They may perceive fear in certain situations, in specific locations and when faced with unknown people. These situations are characterised by a lack of control, which tends to be linked to the fear of crime. This fear also appears clearly to be influenced by the media.</p><p>In the press, the fear of crime is not only depicted in relation to public places, but also in the home and at the workplace. The absence of police is described as one of the reasons for this fear. It is also acceptable for men to express a fear of crime in the newspaper articles. The descriptions expressed in the interviews and in the press reflect some of the theories propounded on the risk society. Risk appears to be perceived as separate from fear. A reduction in crime would therefore be likely to lead to a reduction in the risk of exposure to crime, but not always in the fear of crime. This fear may instead probably be reduced by measures that increase people’s sense of control.</p>