This study investigates the causes of fear of crime amongst residents of Ward 33 in KwaZulu-Natal, and the impact of this fear on their behaviour; the relationship between social cohesion and fear of crime; how residents are trying to make themselves safer in their own homes; and whether these measures are indeed producing feelings of greater safety and security. The research methodology employed for this dissertation is mainly qualitative, in particular the use of storytelling and photographs, which were used as a “canopener” to get respondents to discuss their security choices as well as the choices made by others. The findings indicate that the sources and extent of fear of crime vary amongst residents. Fear of crime emanates from the physical and social environment as well as the kinds of information shared within communities. Embedded within the narratives is a strong association of race with crime, which is deepening divisions in the ward. The findings also question whether greater heterogeneity automatically reduces social cohesion. As far as home security is concerned, the northern part of the ward is generally more affluent and this is reflected in the more diverse security measures adopted by residents. In discussing the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), which is based on the idea that crimes are less likely to occur when properties are visible, residents’ attitudes tended to vary according to their respective fear of crime, their financial status, and specific location within the ward. A theme running consistently through the literature and in some of the narratives is the effect of geography on how residents and potential criminals view an area. The regeneration of some parts of the ward and neglect of others shows the differential outcomes when local community members choose whether or not to be proactive and participate in such projects. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Cette étude propose d’explorer, parmi un ensemble de variables propres à la vulnérabilité des personnes, celles qui expliquent le mieux les inquiétudes face à la victimisation criminelle chez les aînés. L’utilisation d’un instrument de mesure validé en français et adapté à une population âgée québécoise, le WAV (Worry About Victimization), nous aura permis d’étudier la peur du crime en précisant ses dimensions émotionnelles, cognitives et béhaviorale. L’échantillon est constitué de 387 répondants âgés entre 60 et 98 ans résidant dans les centres urbains de Montréal, Sherbrooke et Trois-Rivières. Les résultats suggèrent, qu’en somme, la préoccupation envers le crime en général, les préoccupations envers certains crimes plus spécifiquement définis, de même que les précautions prises contre le crime sont expliquées par des caractéristiques se rapportant à la vulnérabilité des personnes. Pour ces trois dimensions, le sexe représente le meilleur facteur explicatif. Les autres dimensions : perception générale du risque de victimisation, inquiétude diffuse face à l’éventualité d’être victime d’un crime, et recours à des mesures de protection s’expliquent à la fois par des caractéristiques de vulnérabilité et la recherche de protection. Il est à noter que pour ces autres dimensions, le sexe n’est pas au rang de facteurs explicatifs. Des analyses selon le sexe montrent par ailleurs que les inquiétudes des hommes sont moins fonction des caractéristiques de vulnérabilité que pour les femmes. À l’inverse, les expériences de victimisation criminelle de même que les caractéristiques définissant le réseau social, sa disponibilité, l’utilisation qui en est faite et la satisfaction qu’on en tire expliquent davantage l’inquiétude des hommes que celle des femmes. Cette étude conclut que la considération d’autres théories, en complémentarité avec celle de la vulnérabilité, pourrait être bénéfique selon la dimension des inquiétudes étudiée et le sexe des répondants. Cela dit, l’utilisation du WAV apparaît être le premier pas vers l’obtention de connaissances plus nuancées et ainsi plus cohérentes en regard des différentes dimensions de l’inquiétude liée à la victimisation exprimée notamment par les personnes âgées. / This study offers to explore, between certain variables of vulnerability, those that explain better the fears of the elders towards criminal victimization. The use of validity measures instruments in French and adapted to an elder generation of Quebec, the WAV ‘Worry About Victimization’ permitted us to study the fear of crime distantly depending of its emotional, cognitive and behavioral dimensions. The sample tested is made of 387 responding elders aged between 60 & 98 years old. The elders’ samples were taking in urban area in Montreal, Sherbrooke & Trois-Rivieres. The results shows us that the preoccupation towards crime in general, the preoccupation towards crime in specific situation and also that the precautions taken against crime are explained by vulnerability characteristics. For these three last dimensions, the sex represents the best proving facts. The other dimensions (the protection measures - the perception of victimization risk – concern towards facing being personally a crime victim one day) are explained by the vulnerability characteristics and some protection factors to this last one. It’s important to notice that in these three last dimensions, the sex is not ranked by explaining factors. Some analyses more precise about the sex also shows that the men fears are less often touched by their vulnerability characteristics than the women. The experiences of criminal victimization as well as the social network characteristics are factors which better explain the fears of the men than that of the women. This study concludes that the consideration of other theories, in association with the vulnerability theory could be beneficial according to the studied dimension of the worries and depending on the sex of the elder. The use of the WAV seems to be the first step towards knowledge obtaining more qualified and more detailed in regards of different fears connected to victimization.

Föreliggande studie undersökte skillnader mellan män och kvinnor i rädsla att utsättas för våldsbrott utifrån nyhetsmedias rapportering om våldsbrott, samt skillnader mellan män och kvinnor gällande vilken form av nyhetsmedia som bidrog till högst rädsla att utsättas för våldsbrott. De olika formerna av nyhetsmedia som undersöktes var TV-nyheter, tidningsnyheter, radionyheter och internet-nyheter. En enkät besvarades av totalt 178 personer bestående av manliga (n=84) och kvinnliga (n=94) studenter vid Örebro universitet. Resultatet påvisade att kvinnor hade en signifikant högre rädsla än män att utsättas för våldsbrott utifrån nyhetsmedias rapportering om våldsbrott. Internet-nyheter var den form av nyhetsmedia som både män och kvinnor i störst utsträckning konsumerade samt den form som respondenterna enligt känslouttryck bidrog till högst rädsla att utsättas för våldsbrott. TV-nyheter var den form av nyhetsmedia som i störst utsträckning ledde till att respondenterna omsatte sin rädsla att utsättas för våldsbrott i praktiken genom beteendeförändring. Slutligen kunde det konstateras att kön var den starkaste prediktorn för rädsla att utsättas för våldsbrott. Studien belyste problematiken med kvinnors högre rädsla att utsättas för våldsbrott, och genom kunskap om nyhetsmedia som en bidragande orsak kan det trygghetsfrämjande arbetet utvecklas. / The present study examined gender differences in fear of violent crime based on news media reporting about violent crime, and also differences between men and women in what forms of news media that created the most fear of violent crimes. The various forms of news media that were examined included TV, newspaper, radio and internet. A questionnaire was answered by a total of 178 people, consisting of students of Örebro University which consisted men (n=84) and women (n=94). The result showed that women had a significantly higher fear than men of violent crime based on news media reporting about violent crime. Internet was the forms of news media that both men and women consumed the most, and created the most fear of crime according to the respondent’s emotional expressions. TV was the form of news media that to a large extent led to the respondents turning their fear of violent crime in practice through behavioural change. Finally, it was concluded that gender was the strongest predictor for fear of violent crime. The study highlights the problem of women’s higher fear of violent crime, and through the knowledge of news media as a contributing cause, safety-promoting work can be developed.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka skillnader i svenskastudenters attityd till bestraffning utifrån faktorer såsomutbildningsområde, rädsla för brott, könsskillnader samt attributionsstil. Dessutom undersöktes den potentiella interaktionen mellan kön och rädsla för brott. En tvärsnittsundersökning genomfördes och besvarades av 280 deltagare, varav 79 män och 201 kvinnor. Utav dessa var 79 kriminologistudenter, 133 juridikstudenteroch 96 studenter i socialt arbete. Resultaten visade en skillnad mellan dessa tre grupper, där kriminologistudenter hade en mildare attityd till bestraffning än studenter i juridik- och socialt arbete. Vidare visade resultaten på att kvinnor och individer som hade en hög rädsla för brott även har en mer positiv attityd till bestraffning. Däremot fann studien ingen interaktion mellan kön och rädsla för brott. Vidare var endast kausalitetslokus relaterad till attityd till bestraffning. Sammanfattningsvis visar detta på att individers perception av brottoch brottslingar kan ha signifikant effekt på deras attityder till hur bestraffning ska användas i relation till brottslighet. Slutligen rekommenderas vidare forskning inom ämnet för att få mer kunskapom hur attityder till bestraffning formas. / The aim of this study was to examine difference in attitudes towards punishment among Swedish students on factors such as, field of study,fear of crime, gender and attributional style. The potential interactionbetween gender and fear of crime was also explored. A cross sectionalsurvey was answered by 280 participants, consisting of 79 men and201 women. The sample consisted of 79 criminology students, 133law students, and 96 social work students. The results showed adifference between the three groups of students, with criminologystudents being slightly less punitive compared to law- and social workstudents. Results further showed that women and individuals with ahigher degree fear of crime tend to have more positive attitudestowards punishment. However, no interaction was found betweengender and fear of crime. Lastly, only locus of causality was related tomore punitive attitudes. In conclusion, individuals’ perception ofcrime and criminals can have a significant effect on their attitudes onhow punishment should be used in response to crime. Future researchis needed to further deepen our knowledge of how punitive attitudesare formed.

Cette étude propose d’explorer, parmi un ensemble de variables propres à la vulnérabilité des personnes, celles qui expliquent le mieux les inquiétudes face à la victimisation criminelle chez les aînés. L’utilisation d’un instrument de mesure validé en français et adapté à une population âgée québécoise, le WAV (Worry About Victimization), nous aura permis d’étudier la peur du crime en précisant ses dimensions émotionnelles, cognitives et béhaviorale. L’échantillon est constitué de 387 répondants âgés entre 60 et 98 ans résidant dans les centres urbains de Montréal, Sherbrooke et Trois-Rivières. Les résultats suggèrent, qu’en somme, la préoccupation envers le crime en général, les préoccupations envers certains crimes plus spécifiquement définis, de même que les précautions prises contre le crime sont expliquées par des caractéristiques se rapportant à la vulnérabilité des personnes. Pour ces trois dimensions, le sexe représente le meilleur facteur explicatif. Les autres dimensions : perception générale du risque de victimisation, inquiétude diffuse face à l’éventualité d’être victime d’un crime, et recours à des mesures de protection s’expliquent à la fois par des caractéristiques de vulnérabilité et la recherche de protection. Il est à noter que pour ces autres dimensions, le sexe n’est pas au rang de facteurs explicatifs. Des analyses selon le sexe montrent par ailleurs que les inquiétudes des hommes sont moins fonction des caractéristiques de vulnérabilité que pour les femmes. À l’inverse, les expériences de victimisation criminelle de même que les caractéristiques définissant le réseau social, sa disponibilité, l’utilisation qui en est faite et la satisfaction qu’on en tire expliquent davantage l’inquiétude des hommes que celle des femmes. Cette étude conclut que la considération d’autres théories, en complémentarité avec celle de la vulnérabilité, pourrait être bénéfique selon la dimension des inquiétudes étudiée et le sexe des répondants. Cela dit, l’utilisation du WAV apparaît être le premier pas vers l’obtention de connaissances plus nuancées et ainsi plus cohérentes en regard des différentes dimensions de l’inquiétude liée à la victimisation exprimée notamment par les personnes âgées. / This study offers to explore, between certain variables of vulnerability, those that explain better the fears of the elders towards criminal victimization. The use of validity measures instruments in French and adapted to an elder generation of Quebec, the WAV ‘Worry About Victimization’ permitted us to study the fear of crime distantly depending of its emotional, cognitive and behavioral dimensions. The sample tested is made of 387 responding elders aged between 60 & 98 years old. The elders’ samples were taking in urban area in Montreal, Sherbrooke & Trois-Rivieres. The results shows us that the preoccupation towards crime in general, the preoccupation towards crime in specific situation and also that the precautions taken against crime are explained by vulnerability characteristics. For these three last dimensions, the sex represents the best proving facts. The other dimensions (the protection measures - the perception of victimization risk – concern towards facing being personally a crime victim one day) are explained by the vulnerability characteristics and some protection factors to this last one. It’s important to notice that in these three last dimensions, the sex is not ranked by explaining factors. Some analyses more precise about the sex also shows that the men fears are less often touched by their vulnerability characteristics than the women. The experiences of criminal victimization as well as the social network characteristics are factors which better explain the fears of the men than that of the women. This study concludes that the consideration of other theories, in association with the vulnerability theory could be beneficial according to the studied dimension of the worries and depending on the sex of the elder. The use of the WAV seems to be the first step towards knowledge obtaining more qualified and more detailed in regards of different fears connected to victimization.

Fear of crime is a social problem on its own, partly independent of crime as actual crime does not fully explain as to why some individuals are more afraid for crime than others. Structuralist perspectives have offered some explanations, largely neglecting the potential importance of institutional perspectives. This thesis aims to study fear of crime from an institutional perspective using the theoretical construct quality of government which seeks to offer a way to measure well-functioning institutions. It is assumed that quality of government has an impact in different ways; through trust and victimisation. To study these research questions, data were drawn from two sources, the European Social Survey (ESS) and Quality of Government EU Regional Data. The sample contained 85,794 individuals nested in 152 regions which were situated in 18 European countries. The empirical analysis consisted of random intercept multilevel modelling. It was found that the quality of government was correlated with fear of crime, where higher levels of the former tended to result in lower levels in the latter. Trust were found to mediate this correlation whereas victimisation interacted with quality of government.

O presente trabalho é uma tentativa de aplicação da ética do discurso (HABERMAS e APEL) ao debate público sobre segurança no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, no período 2001/2002. Entende o debate como formação discursiva da opinião e da vontade políticas e o interpreta em termos de racionalidade comunicativa. O debate transcorreu em um contexto de aumento da criminalidade e problematização das noções de crime e punição (YOUNG), alimentando um sentimento de insegurança da opinião pública capaz de influenciar programas legislativos e políticas públicas. A partir da análise da imprensa escrita buscou-se avaliar a qualidade do debate a partir de condições ideais de justificação, pressupostos do discurso ou situação ideal de fala (HABERMAS), notadamente em relação ao critério de inclusão de temas e participantes. Concluiu-se pelo caráter excludente do debate, seja em relação a determinados temas, seja em relação a determinados grupos; e que a exclusão de temas e grupos deu origem a movimentos de protesto que podem ser interpretados como uma luta por reconhecimento (TAYLOR, HONNETH e FRASER). / The present work is an attempt of application of the ethics of the speech (HABERMAS and APEL) to the public debate on security in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in period 2001/2002. It understands the debate as discursive formation of the opinion and of the will politics and interprets it in terms of communicative reason. The debate has occurred in a context of increase of crime and crisis of the crime and punishment knowledge (YOUNG), feeding a fear of crime in the public opinion capable to influence legislative programs and public policy. From the analysis of the written press one searched to evaluate the quality of the debate from ideal conditions of justification or ideal situation of speaks (HABERMAS), specifically in relation to the criterion of inclusion of subjects and participants. It was concluded for the exclusive character of the debate, either in relation of determined subjects, or in relation of determined groups; and that the exclusion of subjects and groups gave rise to protest movements that can be interpreted as a fight for recognition (TAYLOR, HONNETH and FRASER).

The research on feeling of safety and fear of crime abroad has been developed since 70s of the 20th century. In the Czech Republic it became of interest at the beginning of 90s after the fall of the communist regime, while the discrepancy between actually committed and formally registered offences resulting in the sharp increase of officially recorded crime manifested itself. In response to this increase there were written first scientific studies, which mainly dealt with the development of feeling of safety and models explaining such feeling in the context of former social problems (economic stress, trust in the government). In our opinion, however, we lack a comprehensive study that discusses the feeling of safety and fear of crime phenomenon from different aspects and intend to verify the validity of the results of international studies in our milieu. Based on the existing theoretical approaches and selected data sources, the study therefore aims to illuminate the structure of the relationship between fear of crime and individual or social factors that correlate with it. The study particularly deals with the relationship between perceived risk of victimization and fear of crime, i.e. concepts that were often used interchangeably at the beginning of research in this area. The analysis has showed...

O presente trabalho é uma tentativa de aplicação da ética do discurso (HABERMAS e APEL) ao debate público sobre segurança no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, no período 2001/2002. Entende o debate como formação discursiva da opinião e da vontade políticas e o interpreta em termos de racionalidade comunicativa. O debate transcorreu em um contexto de aumento da criminalidade e problematização das noções de crime e punição (YOUNG), alimentando um sentimento de insegurança da opinião pública capaz de influenciar programas legislativos e políticas públicas. A partir da análise da imprensa escrita buscou-se avaliar a qualidade do debate a partir de condições ideais de justificação, pressupostos do discurso ou situação ideal de fala (HABERMAS), notadamente em relação ao critério de inclusão de temas e participantes. Concluiu-se pelo caráter excludente do debate, seja em relação a determinados temas, seja em relação a determinados grupos; e que a exclusão de temas e grupos deu origem a movimentos de protesto que podem ser interpretados como uma luta por reconhecimento (TAYLOR, HONNETH e FRASER). / The present work is an attempt of application of the ethics of the speech (HABERMAS and APEL) to the public debate on security in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in period 2001/2002. It understands the debate as discursive formation of the opinion and of the will politics and interprets it in terms of communicative reason. The debate has occurred in a context of increase of crime and crisis of the crime and punishment knowledge (YOUNG), feeding a fear of crime in the public opinion capable to influence legislative programs and public policy. From the analysis of the written press one searched to evaluate the quality of the debate from ideal conditions of justification or ideal situation of speaks (HABERMAS), specifically in relation to the criterion of inclusion of subjects and participants. It was concluded for the exclusive character of the debate, either in relation of determined subjects, or in relation of determined groups; and that the exclusion of subjects and groups gave rise to protest movements that can be interpreted as a fight for recognition (TAYLOR, HONNETH and FRASER).

O presente trabalho é uma tentativa de aplicação da ética do discurso (HABERMAS e APEL) ao debate público sobre segurança no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, no período 2001/2002. Entende o debate como formação discursiva da opinião e da vontade políticas e o interpreta em termos de racionalidade comunicativa. O debate transcorreu em um contexto de aumento da criminalidade e problematização das noções de crime e punição (YOUNG), alimentando um sentimento de insegurança da opinião pública capaz de influenciar programas legislativos e políticas públicas. A partir da análise da imprensa escrita buscou-se avaliar a qualidade do debate a partir de condições ideais de justificação, pressupostos do discurso ou situação ideal de fala (HABERMAS), notadamente em relação ao critério de inclusão de temas e participantes. Concluiu-se pelo caráter excludente do debate, seja em relação a determinados temas, seja em relação a determinados grupos; e que a exclusão de temas e grupos deu origem a movimentos de protesto que podem ser interpretados como uma luta por reconhecimento (TAYLOR, HONNETH e FRASER). / The present work is an attempt of application of the ethics of the speech (HABERMAS and APEL) to the public debate on security in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in period 2001/2002. It understands the debate as discursive formation of the opinion and of the will politics and interprets it in terms of communicative reason. The debate has occurred in a context of increase of crime and crisis of the crime and punishment knowledge (YOUNG), feeding a fear of crime in the public opinion capable to influence legislative programs and public policy. From the analysis of the written press one searched to evaluate the quality of the debate from ideal conditions of justification or ideal situation of speaks (HABERMAS), specifically in relation to the criterion of inclusion of subjects and participants. It was concluded for the exclusive character of the debate, either in relation of determined subjects, or in relation of determined groups; and that the exclusion of subjects and groups gave rise to protest movements that can be interpreted as a fight for recognition (TAYLOR, HONNETH and FRASER).