Introduction
- What is the problem?
Results from the 2004/05 British Crime Survey (BCS)
interviews show that 2.7% of households in England and Wales were
victims of burglary once or more and 3.6% of adults were victims of
violent crime once or more. However 12% and 16% of adults,
respectively, were very worried about becoming a victim of these
crimes.
The BCS provides strong evidence that fear of crime is related to
actual levels of crime. If concern about crime curtails freedom to a
level beyond that appropriate to the actual risk of victimisation,
this would make “fear of crime” a problem in its own right (as it is
often said to be). However, the BCS has consistently shown that this
is not the case for most people. For the vast majority, concern
about crime may be considered a rational response to the risks and
consequences of victimisation.
Why is it a problem?
Fear of crime is
something that may affect people from all walks of life at any stage
of their lives. This makes fear different from actual crime which
tends to be concentrated on particular areas, victims and crimes
being committed by a small number of offenders. People’s fears can
occur depending on the situation, such as older women who feel
nervous about walking home by herself, parents who feel anxious
about letting their children play outside or the shopkeeper who
tenses up everytime a customer enters his shop, if we let it, fear
of crime can have a devastating effect on our quality of life.
Aims of the toolkit
This toolkit has been developed to help you identify
some of the possible factors which may create fear of crime and
although we can not provide a detailed solution for every problem,
we can point to some useful hints and tips which could help you find
one.
Overall this toolkit is about people and organisations that have had
some success in reducing the fear of crime sharing their ideas and
initiatives with others.
Fitting
into the Fear of Crime Matrix
From
places to people
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