Fear of crime
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The fear of crime refers to the fear of being a victim of crime being disproportionate to the likihood of being a victim of crime. Studies of the fear of crime occur in criminology. Moral panics are often the cause of the rising fear of crime.
Media coverage has been blamed for the current fear of crime. The complex nature of crime allows the media to exploit social naivety, coverage of crime is not only selective but is a distortion of the everyday world of crime.[1] The media contributes to the climate of fear that is created, the actual frequency of victimisation is only a tiny fraction of potential crime.[ 2 ] The media commonly reverts to simple spiritual interpetations of crime.
With crime accounting for up to 25 per cent[2] of news coverage, the quality and angle of the coverage becomes an issue. The media displays violent crime disproportionately, whilst neglecting minor crimes, The profile of offenders in the media is distorted causing misunderstanding of criminal offending.
It is still the case that information about crime is passed on over time and changes slightly during the process. This leads to an unreal perception of the problem of crime and can be responsible for fear of crime.
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[edit] Elderly persons' fear of crime
The elderly have a dominant role in ‘fear of crime’ research and societal understanding of the fear of crime. Once the dispassionate domain of academics and government researchers, the ‘fear of crime’ has become a currency of political competition and a cultural preoccupation.[3] Politicians and the media inflame the fear of crime, further victimising elderly victims and indeed all victims. Before the 60’s in a time before adequate crime victim surveys, it was assumed that the elderly were the category of people at the highest risk of victimisation. The myth of great elderly victimisation included elderly suffering greater financial and physical harm as a result of victimisation, a greater amount psychological trauma as a result of crime and the highest fear of crime in comparison to other members of the community. However with the publication of survey data results in the 1980’s, higher crime rates and more severe consequences for elders were no longer valid assumptions.[4] Although the evidence details the myths surrounding elderly victimisation, the elderly still have a fear of crime problem. Studies have continually found that persons over the age of 65 have the lowest victimisation rates of any age group, yet they have the greatest fear of crime, in addition the elderly are likely to encounter crime that is motivated by economic gain such as burglary and theft, and least likely to suffer violent crimes.
[edit] Media, elders and the fear of crime
The media is disproportionately concerned about crime against the elderly. This distortion has been presented as the norm or as commonplace[5] The news media continual presentation of criminal acts daily has elevated peoples misunderstanding of crime. The elderly are now intimate with crime and it is this increased intimacy that has lead to contributed to the fear of crime. The more colourful and scandalous the crime the more likely it is to make the news media.
[edit] References
- ^ Ferraro, K. (1995). Fear of Crime, Interpreting Victimisation Risk. State University of New York press, Albany.
- ^ Maguire, M. Morgan, R. and Reiner, R. (1997). Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- ^ Hope, T., and Sparks, R., (eds). (2000). Crime, Risk and Insecurity. Routledge, London.
- ^ Wolf, R., (2000). Elders as victims of crime, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Elders, Crime and the Criminal Justice System. Rothman. M., Dunlop, B., and Entzel, P. (eds). Springer Publishing Company, New York
- ^ Craig, M., (2000). Fear of crime among the elderly. Garland Publishing, New York.
