Fear of crime and community concerns: Mediating effect of risk and pragmatic fear

Predicting Frequent and Feared Crime Typologies: Individual and Social/Environmental Variables, and Incivilities

The lack of organisation in urban spaces plays a decisive role in the level of integration, communication and social bonds of the residents, impacting the citizens’ feelings of trust and security. Different personal variables and contextual characteristics have been associated with the fear of crime (FOC). The main objective of this study is to analyse how individual and social/environmental variables, and incivilities, predict crime against people and property, crime that has either happened or is feared to happen. Five hundred and fifty-four residents (M = 43.82; SD = 18.38) in the Historic Centre of Porto (HCP), Portugal, answered 61 items of the Diagnosis of Local Security (DLS) Questionnaire. The results of this study show that in the most frequent crime category, 72% of occurrences represent crime against property. In the feared crime category, there is a preponderance of crime against people (61%). Age of the respondents predicted the most frequent and feared crime, while sex predicted the most feared crime only. Social/environmental variables, as well as incivilities, also predict the frequent and feared crime in two typologies, i.e., crime against people and crime against property. Practical implications to reduce FOC and areas for further investigation are discussed.

Assessing the Impact of Street-View Greenery on Fear of Neighborhood Crime in Guangzhou, China

Previous literature has examined the relationship between the amount of green space and perceived safety in urban areas, but little is known about the effect of street-view neighborhood greenery on perceived neighborhood safety. Using a deep learning approach, we derived greenery from a massive set of street view images in central Guangzhou. We further tested the relationships and mechanisms between street-view greenery and fear of crime in the neighborhood. Results demonstrated that a higher level of neighborhood street-view greenery was associated with a lower fear of crime, and its relationship was mediated by perceived physical incivilities. While increasing street greenery of the micro-environment may reduce fear of crime, this paper also suggests that social factors should be considered when designing ameliorative programs.

Victimization, Social Structure and Psychosocial Variables: The Case of Spain in 1999 and 2016

This article reviews the research on the factors influencing victimization and explores the case of Spain. The first section presents a comparative analysis of the data for 1999 and 2016 in terms of perceptions, profiles and the most significant sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables. The second section shows an explanatory analysis based on multivariate logistical regression models, using as independent variables sociodemographic and psychosocial items, and the dependent variable is whether one is described as one is described as a victim or no in the 2016 survey. The results point towards an explanatory model of victimization in which sociodemographic variables play a less important role, whereas psychosocial variables related to lifestyle and subjective perceptions make a significant contribution to greater understanding of the nature of being the victim of a crime and offer suggestions on how to improve Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED).