The ‘fear of crime’ is a politically important measure, and much is made of year to year changes in levels when generated by repeat cross-sectional national surveys such as the British Crime Survey. Data from the first two waves of a longitudinal survey of the fear of crime undertaken in Trinidad indicate that identical year on year fear levels regularly conceal considerable gross changes in reported fear, many of which are mutually cancelled in the calculation of net year-on-year fear levels. These results question either or both of the stability of the fear of crime, and of measures used to assess it.
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