Fear of crime is discussed in relation to various concomitants. This article suggests that fear of crime has two components. One is related to group membership and social support. These affect general levels of anxiety and hence fear (of crime and of other things). The second relates to likelihood of victimization. Thus the fear of crime of, for example, elderly persons may be greater than that of younger persons, despite lower victimization. At the same time two elderly samples may report a level of fear directly related to different victimization experience.
This model is discussed with the use of some Australian data on fear of crime in relation to victimization and general psychological distress of Australian women. It is suggested that small differences in fear of crime between married and never married women despite higher victimization rates of the former, are a result of higher levels of distress among the latter, which largely “cancel out” the effect of victimization.
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