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539 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 9 (1995)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0539 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE This issue of The Annals appears at a time when the nation's leaders are obsessed with reaping the most political advantage from popular concerns about crime. The articles here examine the public's concerns in detail and present a parallel critique of both political and media depictions of the nature of crime and the solutions they have been advancing. These articles lend little support to the often misdirected portrait of the crime problem depicted in the media, and they suggest that the public takes a more nuanced view of crime than politicians give the public credit for. That national debate over crime policy often seems simplistic and diversionary is no accident, for to confront directly the issues it involves would demand that the nation's leaders make clear the financial and even personal commitments that all Americans would have to make. Self-sacrifice not being in vogue, they instead direct the debate toward policies that promise quick, discomfortless fixes that resonate with other fears and concerns facing the electorate. Terance Miethe sets the stage with a review of some of the most common personal reactions to crime. He points out that people's views of the crime problems they face are influenced by a number of forces-such as the media, personal conversations, and official crime statistics-and that those usually overstate the risk of crime and distort the relative risks posed by different types of offenses. However, survey studies of what people fear find they are often surprisingly realistic, focusing on the twin dimensions of crime serious- ness (they fear crimes with the worst consequences) and frequency (they also factor in how likely it is to actually involve them). They adjust their behaviors to reflect the risks in their environment and use indirect cues-such as visible vandalism-when they can to infer when they may be at risk. The adjust- ments they can make range from avoiding risky areas or people to taking protective actions (for example, traveling in groups or carrying Mace) or even changing their styles of life and circles of acquaintances. Finally, they can band together to take collective action of a variety of sorts against neighbor- hood crime and fear. My own contribution examines the linkage between fear of crime and the racial fears of white Americans. I find that many whites have been able to use the housing market to distance themselves from black people to a degree consonant with their racial attitudes. Based on a measure of currently divisive issues, school and neighborhood integration, whites living close to blacks are less prejudiced than are those living farther away. However, interracial proximity is still linked to fear of crime among whites. Research indicates that blacks are more fearful of crime than are whites, due to the heavy concentration around them of the factors that make all Americans more fearful. These include victimization, social disorder, and physical decay. Some 9

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