Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk of Victimization Among College Students

Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk of Victimization Among College Students
Author: Jennifer L. Truman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2007
Genre: College students
ISBN:

Fear of crime is argued to be a social problem that may lead to restriction of activities, increased security costs, and avoidance behaviors. Findings from research indicate that there are many demographic influences on the fear of crime. Specifically, gender has been found to be one of the most consistent predictors of crime, that is, females significantly fear crime more than males. Additionally, research suggests that a person's fear of crime or perceived risk to crime may increase their engagement in precautionary behaviors, such as carrying a weapon for protection. The current study examined these relationships using data collected from 588 students at the University of Central Florida in the fall of 2006. The results indicated that females reported significantly higher mean scores on the fear scale for all crimes except property crimes, as well as higher mean scores for most crimes on the perceived risk of victimization scale. Females also reported feeling less safe from crime in their neighborhood and at home. Furthermore, females were more likely to engage in precautionary behaviors, but less likely to engage in risky behaviors. Fear of crime was not a significant predictor of the use of precautionary behaviors. However, respondents with greater perceived risk were more likely to use a greater number of precautionary behaviors. Additionally, respondents who had a perceived lack of safety were more likely to use precautionary behaviors and engage in them more often. Risky lifestyle behaviors were not significant predictors of either fear or guardianship activities. Exposure to the media was only shown to increase fear, perceived risk, and perceived lack of safety at the bivariate level. And finally previous victimization was not a significant predictor of fear or perceived risk. Overall, the results were fairly consistent with previous literature. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

The Fear of Crime

The Fear of Crime
Author: Wesley G. Skogan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 100
Release: 1977
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

A history and categories of cybercrime -- Basic cybercrime terms -- Birth of the White Hats -- The origin of the Black Hat label in the United States and Britain -- Y2K : fears emerge about cyberterrorism -- Post-Y2K incidents exacerbating cyberterrorist fears -- Countering cyberterrorists : the U.S. Homeland Security Act of 2002 -- Incidents exacerbating cyberterrorism anxieties -- The importance of social engineering to cybercriminals -- Categories of cybercrime : harm to property and/or to persons -- Criminal liability and the coincidence of four elements -- The increasing complexity of property cybercrime -- Cybercrimes against persons -- The nonoffenses of cybervigilantism and hacktivism -- Issues, controversies, and solutions -- Overview of the number of reported incidents of computer system intrusions, government agencies, and institutions -- Methods used to commit cybercrime, cases, and countermeasures -- Controversies surrounding intellectual property rights, copyright, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act -- Controversial "non-cases" of cracking -- Overview of system vulnerabilities and related controversies -- How chief operating officers worldwide are feeling about their systems? vulnerabilities and why -- A case study : outlining the "real" threat of a possible coordinated terror attack -- Using honeypots to better know "the enemy", and controversies surrounding them -- More question of interest : operating systems software--are some more vulnerable to cracking exploits than others? -- Global legislative countermeasures and controversies : the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime -- Chronology -- Biographical sketches -- Cybercrime legal cases -- A summary of recent U.S. anti-terror and anti-cybercrime legislation -- General observations about recent trends in cybercrime -- Timeline and description of recent computer crimes prosecuted under the U.S. Computer Crime Statute U.S.C. section 1030.

Fear of Crime

Fear of Crime
Author: Kenneth F. Ferraro
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 200
Release: 1995-03-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 143840266X

Ferraro examines how people interpret their risk of criminal victimization and identifies who is most likely to be afraid of crime. Although many previous studies of fear of crime do not explicitly consider the concept of risk or perceived risk in estimating the prevalence of fear, the approach taken here considers perceived risk as central to the entire interpretive process. It links national survey data on how people think about crime to official crime rates in America, and uses the comprehensive set of environmental and personal variables on a nationally representative sample to examine how fear develops for ten different types of crime.

Victimization Among Individuals with Low Self-control

Victimization Among Individuals with Low Self-control
Author: Casey Williams
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

ABSTRACT: Fear of crime is an issue that has long been a part of mainstream society through politics and media. However, research on the specific mechanisms of fear and the effects on behavior is sparse. After considering the victim-offender overlap consistently found within the literature, the present study was based on the theory posed within Schreck, Stewart, and Fisher (2006) in which those who are low in self-control may have altered perceptions of fear or risk of crime that might increase the likelihood that the individual will be in risky locations conducive to victimization. The current study also included a novel feature in which fear of crime is measured by two separate constructs, an emotional fear response to crime as well as a cognitive risk perception of crime as suggested in Rountree and Land (1996). This study will utilize data collected from 3,692 seventh-graders in Kentucky as part of the Rural Substance Abuse and Violence Project. It is believed that this study will help to better explain the process behind school victimization in particular, not only for intervention and prevention purposes for offending behavior, but to also prevent victimization.

The Handbook of Media and Mass Communication Theory

The Handbook of Media and Mass Communication Theory
Author: Robert S. Fortner
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 1002
Release: 2014-03-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1118770005

The Handbook of Media and Mass Communication Theory presents a comprehensive collection of original essays that focus on all aspects of current and classic theories and practices relating to media and mass communication. Focuses on all aspects of current and classic theories and practices relating to media and mass communication Includes essays from a variety of global contexts, from Asia and the Middle East to the Americas Gives niche theories new life in several essays that use them to illuminate their application in specific contexts Features coverage of a wide variety of theoretical perspectives Pays close attention to the use of theory in understanding new communication contexts, such as social media 2 Volumes

Campus Crime Alerts and Their Relationship to Perceived Risk of Victimization and Fear of Crime

Campus Crime Alerts and Their Relationship to Perceived Risk of Victimization and Fear of Crime
Author: Adaeze M. Edwards
Publisher:
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2018
Genre: College students
ISBN:

For several decades, campus crime, fear of crime, victimization, and the perception of victimization have all been principal concerns for campus administrators and have piqued the interest of the research community. A deep understanding of the nature of campus crime and victimization, as well as addressing the issues of fear of crime and perceptions of risk, have been made available by different studies. With the passage of the Clery Act of 1998, institutions of higher learning were mandated to make the campus community aware of both the different campus prevention programs offered and timely information/alerts on crimes on campus, as a means of risk reduction on the individual level. However, no research investigates the relationships between these crime prevention efforts, specifically, the campus crime alerts, on perceived risk of victimization and fear of crime, and in turn, these associations on efforts to take protective action. This study begins to fill this void by examining responses to web-based surveys administered to convenience samples of students enrolled at a large southwestern university. Findings from this study add to the literature on campus crime by determining what relationship campus crime alerts have with the perception of victimization and fear of crime of the campus community as well as the measures individuals take to protect their own safety. Limitations of this study, directions for future research, and related policy implications for universities are also discussed.