Drawing upon Wave 7 of the World Value Survey, this study performed multilevel analysis on fear of crime among 47,996 residents from 36 diverse nations. Confidence in the government and perceived government performance were identified as significant predictors of crime fear. Further analysis showed the effect of confidence in the government stemmed primarily from between-country variation, whereas both within-country and between-country variation in perceived government performance shaped fear of crime. In addition, macroeconomic factors and the proportion of urban population, but not national-level homicide rate, were found to be salient country-level predictors. The findings contextualize the elevated fear of crime in some countries despite declining crime rates and inform the recommendation that institutional confidence and performance be prioritized in crime fear reduction efforts.
AltheimerI. (2013). Cultural processes and homicide across nations. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 57(7), 842–863.
AlitavoliR.KavehE. (2018). The US media’s effect on public’s crime expectations: A cycle of cultivation and agenda-setting theory. Societies, 8(3), 58.
4.
BoatengF. D. (2019). Fearfulness in the community: Empirical assessments of influential factors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34(3), 562–584.
5.
BorgM. J.ParkerK. F. (2001). Mobilizing law in urban areas: The social structure of homicide clearance rates. Law & Society Review, 35(2), 435–466.
6.
BorooahV. K.CarcachC. A. (1997). Crime and fear: Evidence from Australia. The British Journal of Criminology, 37(4), 635–657.
7.
Brunton-SmithI. (2011). Untangling the relationship between fear of crime and perceptions of disorder: Evidence from a longitudinal study of young people in England and Wales. The British Journal of Criminology, 51(6), 885–899.
8.
Brunton-SmithI.JacksonJ.SutherlandA. (2014). Bridging structure and perception: On the neighbourhood ecology of beliefs and worries about violent crime. The British Journal of Criminology, 54(4), 503–526.
9.
BursikR. J.JrGrasmickH. G. (1993). Economic deprivation and neighborhood crime rates, 1960-1980. Law & Society Review, 27, 263.
10.
ChiricosT.HoganM.GertzM. (1997). Racial composition of neighborhood and fear of crime. Criminology, 35(1), 107–132.
11.
ClementeF.KleimanM. B. (1977). Fear of crime in the United States: A multivariate analysis. Social Forces, 56(2), 519–531.
DietzA. S. (1997). Evaluating community policing: Quality police service and fear of crime. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 20, 83–100.
14.
DittonJ.ChadeeD.FarrallS.GilchristE.BannisterJ. (2004). From imitation to intimidation: A note on the curious and changing relationship between the media, crime and fear of crime. The British Journal of Criminology, 44(4), 595–610.
15.
DoranB. J.BurgessM. B. (2012). Putting fear of crime on the map. Springer.
16.
DuBowF.McCabeE.KaplanG. (1979). Reactions to crime: A critical review of the literature: Executive summary. Department of Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice.
17.
FarrallS.BannisterJ.DittonJ.GilchristE. (2000). Social psychology and the fear of crime. The British Journal of Criminology, 40(3), 399–413.
18.
FerraroK. F. (1995). Fear of crime: Interpreting victimization risk. SUNY Press.
GarofaloJ. (1981). The fear of crime: Causes and consequences. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 72, 839.
21.
GialopsosB. A. (2011). For whom the school bell tolls: Explaining students’ fear of crime and perceptions of risk [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Cincinnati.
22.
GibsonC. L.ZhaoJ.LovrichN. P.GaffneyM. J. (2002). Social integration, individual perceptions of collective efficacy, and fear of crime in three cities. Justice Quarterly, 19(3), 537–564.
23.
GoodeyJ. (1994). Fear of crime: What can children tell us?International Review of Victimology, 3(3), 195–210.
HaleC. (1996). Fear of crime: A review of the literature. International Review of Victimology, 4(2), 79–150.
26.
HanS.ConnellN. M. (2021). The effects of school police officers on victimization, delinquency, and fear of crime: Focusing on Korean youth. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 65, 1356–1372. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624x20946933
27.
HanZ.LinK.TaoP. (2019). Perceived quality of governance and trust in government in rural China: A comparison between villagers and officials. Social Science Quarterly, 100(5), 1726–1743.
28.
HauserW.KleckG. (2017). The impact of police strength and arrest productivity on fear of crime and subjective assessments of the police. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(1), 86–111.
29.
HindelangM. J.GottfredsonM. R.GarofaloJ. (1978). Victims of personal crime: An empirical foundation for a theory of personal victimization. Ballinger.
30.
JacksonJ. (2009). A psychological perspective on vulnerability in the fear of crime. Psychology Crime and Law, 15(4), 365–390.
31.
JacksonJ.GrayE. (2010). Functional fear and public insecurities about crime. The British Journal of Criminology, 50(1), 1–22.
32.
KilliasM. (1990). Vulnerability: Towards a better understanding of a key variable in the genesis of fear of crime. Violence and Victims, 5(2), 97–108.
33.
KilliasM.ClericiC. (2000). Different measures of vulnerability in their relation to different dimensions of fear of crime. The British Journal of Criminology, 40(3), 437–450.
34.
KrivoL. J.PetersonR. D. (1996). Extremely disadvantaged neighborhoods and urban crime. Social Forces, 75, 619–648.
35.
LagrangeR. L.FerraroK. F. (1987). The Elderly's fear of crime: A critical examination of the research. Research on Aging, 9(3), 372–391.
36.
LaGrangeR. L.FerraroK. F.SupancicM. (1992). Perceived risk and fear of crime: Role of social and physical incivilities. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 29(3), 311–334.
37.
LeeH. D.ReynsB. W.KimD.MaherC. (2020). Fear of crime out west: Determinants of fear of property and violent crime in five states. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 64, 1299–1316.
38.
LiskaA. E.SanchiricoA.ReedM. D. (1988). Fear of crime and constrained behavior specifying and estimating a reciprocal effects model. Social Forces, 66(3), 827–837.
39.
MarsmanM. (2007). Fear of crime: trust in the police, in others and in self [Bachelor’s thesis]. University of Twente.
40.
Martínez-FerrerB.VeraJ. A.MusituG.Montero-MonteroD. (2018). Trust in police and fear of crime among young people from a gender perspective: The case of Mexico. Violence and Gender, 5(4), 226–232.
41.
McGarrellE. F.GiacomazziA. L.ThurmanQ. C. (1997). Neighborhood disorder, integration, and the fear of crime. Justice Quarterly, 14(3), 479–500.
42.
McNeeleyS.YuanY. (2017). A multilevel examination of the code of the street’s relationship with fear of crime. Crime and Delinquency, 63(9), 1146–1167.
43.
MeldeC.BergM. T.EsbensenF. A. (2016). Fear, social interactions, and violence mitigation. Justice Quarterly, 33(3), 481–509.
44.
MeldeC.EsbensenF. A. (2009). The victim-offender overlap and fear of in-school victimization: A longitudinal examination of risk assessment models. Crime and Delinquency, 55(4), 499–525.
45.
MishlerW.RoseR. (2001). What are the origins of political trust? Testing institutional and cultural theories in post-communist societies. Comparative Political Studies, 34(1), 30–62.
46.
MorenoffJ. D.SampsonR. J.RaudenbushS. W. (2001). Neighborhood inequality, collective efficacy, and the spatial dynamics of urban violence. Criminology, 39(3), 517–558.
47.
NaginD. S.TelepC. W. (2020). Procedural justice and legal compliance: A revisionist perspective. Criminology & Public Policy, 19(3), 761–786.
48.
NallaM. K.JohnsonJ. D.Hayes-SmithR. (2011). Prior victimization, region, and neighborhood effects on fear of crime in Mumbai, India. Asian Journal of Criminology, 6(2), 141–159.
49.
NisbettR. E.CohenD. (1996). Culture of honor: The psychology of violence in the south. Westview Press.
50.
NivetteA. E. (2011). Cross-national predictors of crime: A meta-analysis. Homicide Studies, 15(2), 103–131.
51.
PantazisC. (2000). ‘Fear of crime’, vulnerability and poverty. The British Journal of Criminology, 40(3), 414–436.
52.
PearsonA. L.BreetzkeG. D. (2014). The association between the fear of crime, and mental and physical wellbeing in New Zealand. Social Indicators Research, 119(1), 281–294.
53.
PerryE. J. (2008). Chinese conceptions of “rights”: From Mencius to Mao—and now. Perspectives on Politics, 6(1), 37–45.
54.
Rabe-HeskethS.SkrondalA. (2008). Multilevel and longitudinal modeling using Stata. Stata Press.
55.
RaudenbushS. W.BrykA. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (Vol. 1). SAGE.
56.
RenauerB. C. (2007). Reducing fear of crime: Citizen, police, or government responsibility?Police Quarterly, 10(1), 41–62.
57.
RountreeP. W.LandK. C. (1996). Perceived risk versus fear of crime: Empirical evidence of conceptually distinct reactions in survey data. Social Forces, 74(4), 1353–1376.
58.
SalemG. W.LewisD. A. (1986). Fear of crime: Incivility and the production of a social problem. Transaction Publishers.
59.
SkoganW. G.MaxfieldM. G. (1981). Coping with crime: Individual and neighborhood reactions (p. 272). SAGE Publications.
60.
StaffordM.ChandolaT.MarmotM. (2007). Association between fear of crime and mental health and physical functioning. American Journal of Public Health, 97(11), 2076–2081.
61.
StankoE. A.HobdellK. (1993). Assault on men: Masculinity and male victimization. The British Journal of Criminology, 33(3), 400–415.
62.
TaylorR. B.CovingtonJ. (1993). Community structural change and fear of crime. Social Problems, 40(3), 374–397.
63.
TrentC. L. S.PridemoreW. A. (2012). A review of the cross-national empirical literature on social structure and homicide. In Liem MariekeC. A.PridemoreW. A. (Eds.), Handbook of European homicide research (pp. 111–135). Springer.
64.
VauclairC. M.BratanovaB. (2017). Income inequality and fear of crime across the European region. European Journal of Criminology, 14(2), 221–241.
65.
WalklateS. (1994). Can there be a progressive victimology?International Review of Victimology, 3(1–2), 1–15.
66.
WarrM. (1994). Public perceptions and reactions to violent offending and victimization. In ReissA. J.RothJ. A. (Eds.), Understanding and preventing violence: Consequences and control (Vol. 4, pp. 1–66). National Academy Press.
67.
WireS. E. (2019). Exploring the Relationship between Police Proactivity, Police Legitimacy, and Fear of Crime [Doctoral dissertation].
68.
YuanY.DongB.MeldeC. (2017). Neighborhood context, street efficacy, and fear of violent victimization. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 15(2), 119–137.
69.
ZhangL.MessnerS. F.LiuJ.ZhuoY. A. (2009). Guanxi and fear of crime in contemporary urban China. The British Journal of Criminology, 49(4), 472–490.
