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7 Current Issues Crim. Just. 7 (1995-1996)
Fear of Crime, and Fear Reduction Strategies

handle is hein.journals/cicj7 and id is 11 raw text is: Fear of Crime, and Fear Reduction Strategies P N GRABOSKY Introduction Fewer and fewer Australians remember the days when they could leave their homes un- locked at any time of the day or night without having to worry, and walk with complete nonchalance in almost any neighbourhood.1 Today, fear of crime has become an impor- tant 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. Fear of crime, whether warranted or ill-founded, can be addressed by public policy. Governments may not be able to eliminate crime completely, but they can contribute to its reduction. They can also take steps to reduce public perceptions of insecurity. The pages which follow will review what we know about fear of crime in Australia. We will then suggest a number of strategies for the reduction of fear which appear to have met with some success, either in Australia or overseas, and whose wider application in Australia may be worth considering. What is fear of crime? What do we mean by fear of crime? Attempts to measure or to explain fear of crime may be complicated by failure to distinguish between perception of general risk, fear of personal victimisation, concern about crime as a public policy issue and anxiety about life in general. Canadian researchers have also suggested the usefulness of separately investi- gating the salience of fear of crime as a personal concern versus the perceived extensive- ness of areas thought to be dangerous.2 Kelley notes that fear of crime is complex, in that some people may be afraid of particular types of crime, but not of other kinds of offence.3 Moreover, some individuals may be fearful of crime in the home, but not in public. Generalisations about the fear of crime, or comparisons of levels of fear over time or across jurisdictions may fail to take these differences into consideration. On the other * Director of Research, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra. 1 In fact, Australia has not always been a safer place. In Australia, as in most if not all western industrial so- cieties, the nineteenth century saw considerably more crime and disorder than has the twentieth. 2 Tremblay, P, Cordeau, G and Kaczorowski, J, La Peur du Crime et ses Paradoxes: Cartes Mentales, F-cologie Criminelle et Sentiment d'Insecurit6 (1993) 35(1) Can J Crim 118. See also Keane, C, Fear of Crime in Canada: An Examination of Concrete and Formless Fear of Victimization (1992) 34(2) April Can J Crim 215. 3 Kelley, J, The 1990 National Crime Victimisation Survey (1992) Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC).

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