The Limits of Vulnerability in Explaining Fear of Crime: A Comparative Neighborhood Analysis

Abstract

Recent research on the fear of crime in the United States has focused on the sources of fear. Many of these studies have identified neighborhood-level variables that are related to fear, but most have examined the differences in fear among individual residents of one or more cities. There has been substantially less research on the differences in the sources of fear among residents of different areas within a single city. This article examines the causes of fear through a comparative analysis of three different neighborhoods in San Francisco. An analysis of covariance model is used to assess the importance of differences in the sources of fear that may be associated with an individual's neighborhood of residence. The findings demonstrate that age, as a measure of physical vulnerability previously associated with fear among individuals, is not related to fear in neighborhoods where residents express the greatest general concern about crime. It is concluded that in those urban areas where crime problems are regular features of the neighborhood environment, measures of physical vulnerability are less important in predicting differences in fear among individuals.

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