The Impact of Fear of Crime on the Lives of People
Introduction
Despite the fact that issues of crime have been in existence for many centuries, the concept of crime fear is a new one. The fear of crime is the thoughts, emotions and beliefs that people normally develop regarding their vulnerability to becoming victims of crime activities. It is the emotional response to incidences of crime, which people worrying about possible victimization normally develop. It, thus, has to be understood that the fear of crime by people is a very subjective concept, which not only comprises of the emotional worries of an individual as well as the potential consequences of the criminal activities, but also their views regarding the resultant risk and the impact of the environment in causing fear. The focus of this paper is to analyze the concept of crime fear and establish its impact to the lives of people. The position taken in this paper is that fear of crime has major impacts on the lives of people.
The Origin of Fear of Crime
Various factors have contributed to the increase in fear of crime among human beings. Some of the causes of fear of crime include personal attributes, experiences of victimization, features of a given environment and social impacts like media (Ziegler & Mitchell, 2003, pp.175). All these make up the major factors that fuel fear of crime among people. It is important to note the fact that the subjective form of fear of crime indicates personal attributes of an individual make the primary factor that influences this worry of criminal activities among people (Wilcox, Jordan & Pritchard, 2006, pp.357). The extent to which people fear crime is influenced by the personal attributes of the individuals. A person reports about the level of fear of crime based on their knowledge and beliefs regarding the prevalence of criminal activities. When people have the perception that crime activities are quite prevalent in a given environment, they are bound to develop fear that they are risk of a possible crime occurrence (Wesely & Gaarder, 2004, pp.648). They may live believing that they are a high risk of being victimized. Otherwise, the people who have the perception that there are minimal incidences of crime in their area are likely to live with less fear because they do not believe that they are at risk of a criminal activity.
Conclusions about their likelihood as potential target of a criminal activity coupled with their capability to tackle the threats, attacks or even consequences linked with acts of crime could also influences the fear that people have for crime (Weinrath & Gartell, 1996, pp.189). If individuals feel that they are targets of a possible criminal activity, they develop worry of that imminent act of crime. However, when people think they are not the target of a criminal activity, they have no fear of crime.
It is also important to explain that the past experiences of people about criminal activities influences their fear of future acts of crime. Individuals who have been targets of crime activities develop fear that the same criminal incidence may occur (Warr, 1984, pp.683). Therefore, the logical conclusion has always been that people who have been victimized in the past have higher levels of fear of crime activities than those who have never experienced crime. This link between the fear of crime and past experiences of victimization has not been very clear. Some scholars have pointed out that the fear of crime depends on the beliefs of people about their likelihood to be victims of crime as well as the possible level of gravity of the victimization. According to the studies done on this concept, an experience of victimization is able to enhance the perceptions of a possible crime, but could also lower the believed severity of the victimization (Warr, 1985, pp.239). While past experiences of victimization do increase the perceptions regarding the risk of crime, they also lower the perceived adverse consequence of the criminal occurrence (Van Selm & Jankowski, 2006, pp.437). Therefore, this has an effect on the extent to which such people report about the fear of crime.
Another key contributor to the fear of crime among people, as mentioned earlier, is the nature of environment. Features of a given environment can fuel feelings of fear of crime. In an environment that is known for being prone to criminal activities, there is a high level of fear of crime among people (Tulloch, 2000, pp.453). The reputation of a given area regarding the prevalence of criminal activities has a very significant influence on the levels of fear of crime among the local people. Moreover, there are signs of crime that are present in some environments. When people view these signs of crime, they get increased feelings of fear of crime. The signs of crime, in this context, refer to the characteristics of the physical environment that influence people to start believing that they are highly vulnerable to victimization. Some of the common signs of crime within an environment include broken windows, graffiti, remains of burned houses and rowdy youths (Truman, 2005). Such features within an area normally stimulate fear of crime in people since their perceived risk of being victimized rises. Moreover, a society in which instability and feuds are common may fuel emotions of fear of crime. When residents of a given area are always in constant conflicts people automatically get the fear of crime (Catalano, 2005). The fear of crime is even enhanced higher when there are people within the society who are strangers to the locals.
Finally, the media can increase the fear of crime. It has to be emphasized that the concept of fear of crime emerged in the recent past when information and communications technology advanced enabling messages to be easily spread to mass of people (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Today, when there is an occurrence of crime in a given area, people get to learn of it instantly through the media and this increases the fear of crime among individuals (Cates, Dian & Schnepf, 2003, pp.227). It is vital to recognize the fact that growth of media as well as information and communications technologies have significantly enhanced awareness of criminal activities and the manner in which criminals operate (Tewksbury & Mustaine, 2003, pp.309). However, it is this same public awareness of criminal activities that increases the perceived risk of people and enhances crime fear among individuals.
Rationality of Crime Fear
The question of the rationality of fear of crime has received much attention in the recent past. This question is normally asked in terms of whether a given demographic group, such as the elderly, has an irrational level of fear of crime relative to the perceived low rate of personal victimization for the same group. In most cases, the fear of crime is always irrational. When a person experiences victimization, for instance, the level of fear t5hat such individuals develop thereafter is always irrational (Stanko, 1997, pp.481). It is always not proportional to the perceived rate of personal victimization known to people. It is very hard to get a person who has a rational level of fear of crime. When people receive messages of a criminal activity taking place in a given area, the level of fear of crime that they develop is always more than the severity of the actual victimization (Chiricos, Eschholz & Gertz, 1997, pp.346). From this perspective, it can be said that the fear of crime is always irrational.
The Effects of Crime Fear on the Lives of People
A lot of studies have established the fact that the fear of crime has significant impact on the lives of women, the elderly, disabled and the vulnerable people. The British Crime Survey established that the fear of crime affects most people, but the level of effect is different (Zauberman, 1985). The impacts of fear of crime on the lives of people are diverse and many. Lifestyles of people are affected by the level of their fear of crime. The response that individuals have when they are in fear of crime changes their lifestyle significantly. These changes in the lifestyles of people may be positive or even negative (Yin, 1980, pp.497). The impacts of fear of crime on the life43styles of people include engagement in protective behaviors and insurance. People who have the high fear of crime start engaging in protective behaviors like doing actions aimed at increasing the person’s resistance to victimization (Cohen & Felson, 1979, pp.589). This may include recruiting guards at their home and even being armed for security. Other people may start using bullet-proof cars and even clothes. Individuals may begin self-defense training and even fit alarms on their buildings (Yarwood & Gardner, 2000, pp.406). Such a lifestyle that is a result of the fear of crime by an individual may be very expensive to maintain hence make people to cut down their expenditures in other areas in order to sustain this new way of living.
For the case of the insurance approaches, people who have the fear of crime normally engage in actions that are aimed at reducing the cost of the victimization. Insurance approaches are also aimed at changing the consequences of victimization (Dowler, 2003, pp.113). With a home insurance, for instance, a person is able to lower the economic cost that may arise when they are victims of crime.
From a psychological point of view, the fear of crime may adversely affect the quality of life of an individual. This happens when people experience excessive fear of crime. Excessive fear of crime affects the normal functioning of people’s minds. It has been established that the crime avoidance behaviors, which take in response to their perceived risk of victimization, reduces the quality of lives of people (Wayne, 2008). At this excessively high level of fear of crime, people normally limit their movements as well as socialization because of the worry of victimization. The avoidance behaviors, in this context, refer to actions that are meant to lower the exposure of a given person to crime or just the risk of it. Some of the avoidance strategies used by people include keeping distance from the risky circumstances (Farrall, Bannister, Ditton & Gilchrist, 1997, pp.659). In this situation, people who have the excessive fear of crime normally undergo a high level of psychological distress. Such distress may bring about mental disorders and low physical functioning. Moreover, the psychological distress that individuals get because of fear of crime minimizes the capability of people to engage in social activities hence making them to become introverts (Truman, 2007). However, as mentioned earlier, the impact of fear of crime on the lives of people is always different depending on factors such as gender, age and the social circumstances.
Another impact of the fear of crime on the lives of people can be felt in other indirect ways such as leading to the establishment of various initiatives like the crime prevention programs. Furthermore, legislations are formulated because of these fears of crime (Ferraro & LaGrange, 1987, pp.73). The security laws formulated may have great impacts on the way people live. Some of the programs that are started because of increased fears of crime include the neighborhood watch schemes.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of crime fear on people’s lives. As evident in the paper, the fear of crime has a very strong impact on the lives of people. Among the key impacts mentioned, the psychological effect of fear of crimes stands out. The effect of the psychological distress caused by excessive fear of crime hampers the normal physical functioning of a person and brings about mental disorders.
However, this fear of crime can be controlled and reduced. There are successful strategies that can be employed to reduce the fear of crime because it is a subjective and dynamic concept. The methods that can be used to reduce the fear of crime are numerous and vary based on the demography of a given community, the experience of crime and victimization and the people’s perceptions regarding the existing levels of crime and policing mechanisms. Some of the mechanisms that can be used to reduce the fear of crime is through provision of effective policing mechanisms in areas that are perceived to be hot-spots of crime. Moreover, there is need to intensify intelligence sourcing mechanisms so that the activities of criminals are thwarted in advance.
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