Alternative Measures of ‘Fear of Crime‘: Results from Crime Audits in a Rural County of England

Abstract

‘Fear of crime’ has aroused considerable academic debate, with criticisms both of exactly what is being measured and analysis of the relationship between fear and risk. At the same time, national and international surveys have increased reliance on a select ‘package’ of measures of fear. Using more precise questions from a rural crime survey conducted as part of the 2001 Crime Audits, this paper argues that locally contextualised surveys offer the advantage of distinguishing fear or anxiety according to time and place. Respondents here clearly distinguished between the area where they lived and the town they most often visited, and according to daytime or night-time. In each case, levels of fear or anxiety varied according to the social characteristics, experiences and lifestyle of respondents in similar, but not identical, ways to those identified in previous research.