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Fear of crime in Brisbane city: revisiting the importance of ‘context’ in the development of fear of crime

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Crime Prevention and Community Safety Aims and scope

Abstract

Fear of crime can have significant consequences for physical and mental wellbeing. Although our understanding of the causes of fear of crime has improved over the years, there remains a lack of research examining the connections between individual, situational, and social factors that may contribute to concerns about crime within an individual’s immediate environment. The current study examines fear of crime as a context dependent experience, in order to better understand these connections. Data are collected from a sample of N = 180 residents living and working in Brisbane City, Australia. Using Factor Score Path Analysis, we show that signals of crime (i.e., physical and social disorder) in the immediate environment increase the likelihood of worry about crime. Results of this study indicate that in order to reduce concerns about crime researchers should consider dynamic signals of disorder in the immediate environment when designing interventions.

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Notes

  1. It is acknowledged that there are some types of crimes where women are more likely to be the victim, such as cases of domestic violence and sexual violence. However, when considering crime as a whole, young men are more commonly the victims of crime.

  2. We note that a substantial body of research has found that women are more fearful of crime, than men (see Hale, 1996 for a review).

  3. This recruitment timeframe is similar to other fear of crime studies conducted in Australia (see Chataway and Hart 2016) and the United Kingdom (see Jackson 2005).

  4. Brisbane City is considered a Statistical Area Level 2 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. SA2′s are functional areas that represent a community that interacts together socially and economically, and are within a Local Government Area (LGA). Brisbane City is within the Brisbane LGA. LGAs are spatial units that represent the whole geographical area of responsibility of an incorporated Local Government Council.

  5. The median age of this population at the time of the study was 29 years.

  6. X denotes the three crime type indicators: being attacked by a stranger, being robbed or mugged by a stranger, and being harassed, threatened and / or verbally abused.

  7. Two surveys were excluded from the analysis due to incomplete data.

  8. The over-representation of older women in the sample may be an artifact of the recruitment strategy used (i.e., social media data collection) and the user demographics for Facebook in particular.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Justice, Gardens Point, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane City, QLD, 4000, Australia

    Michael L. Chataway & Jacques Mellberg

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  1. Michael L. Chataway
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  2. Jacques Mellberg
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Correspondence to Michael L. Chataway.

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Chataway, M.L., Mellberg, J. Fear of crime in Brisbane city: revisiting the importance of ‘context’ in the development of fear of crime. Crime Prev Community Saf 23, 137–154 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41300-021-00111-3

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