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Fear of crime

Fear of crime has become an important issue of public concern:
a problem which detracts from the quality of life, and which
adversely affects social and economic well-being. While the
fear of crime expressed by some citizens is well-founded,
other individuals are at less personal risk than they might
believe. Their fear, however, is no less real. ... At the heart of such statements is a critical awareness that fear of crime
is a serious social concern in our society and one that must be addressed. These statements however, raise numerous concerns and questions as to how our society in general and our police force in particular are to target the fear of criminal victimisation that is evidently gripping our communities.

The traditional and most widely accepted premise for reducing fear of crime has hinged on the formidable task of reducing crime. More commonly however, it is being argued that many of the problems associated with crime, including fear, are independent of actual victimization. Indeed, fear of crime in today’s society, is recognised as a distinct social problem, extending well beyond those who have actually been victimised to affect the lives of all those who perceive themselves to be at risk. This essay will examine the issues associated with fear of crime and the effect that such fear has on people’s lives and the role of police in addressing and undermining such a fear of victimisation.

Crime is often viewed as a social problem, whether or not a person has actually been recently victimised, because it may lead to decreased social integration, out-migration, the restriction of activities, added security costs, and avoidance behaviours. Moreover, although fear of crime is closely related to levels of crime, and tends to increase as crime rises, it cannot be seen as a mere function of crime rates. To use the words of Mark Warr;
Like criminal victimisation itself, the consequences of
fear are real, measurable, and potentially severe, both
at an individual and social level.

Fear of crime is gradually being perceived as an increasing phenomenon. Many people are influenced by the media portrayal of crime which bears little relation to the actual situation. The reality however, is that serious crime is less common than is depicted by the media. That is, crimes occur in inverse proportion to their seriousness; the more serious the crime, the more rarely it occurs. ... In news coverage of crime, however, the emphasis is on ‘newsworthiness’ and the key factor of this is seriousness.

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Paper Information

Title: Fear of crime

Words: 2075
Rating: None
Pages: 8.3
submitted by: shaq555

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