The paper assesses the consequences of victimization experience and the crime rate on fear of crime and life satisfaction. It extends the classical fear of crime model by incorporating media use in the link between the crime rate and fear of crime. Based on a nationwide German survey conducted in 2010 it is shown that fear of crime and victimization experiences lower respondents’ life satisfaction. The county crime rate has no significant impact. However, the local crime rate increases fear of crime. This relationship is mediated by the consumption of local newspapers. Readers of such newspapers are more affected by the crime rate, because they have more information on crime trends within their county.
ArgyleM (1999) Causes and correlates of happiness. In: KahnemanDDienerESchwarzN(eds) Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 353–373.
2.
BilskyWWetzelsP (1997) On the relationship between criminal victimization and fear of crime. Psychology, Crime & Law3(4): 309–318.
3.
BrittCL (2001) Health consequences of criminal victimization. International Review of Victimology8: 63–73.
4.
Brunton-SmithISturgisP (2011) Do neighborhoods generate fear of crime? An empirical test using the British Crime Survey. Criminology49(2): 331–369.
5.
BursikRGrasmickHG (1993) Neighborhoods and Crime: The Dimensions of Effective Community Control. New York: Lexington Books.
6.
ClarkAEOswaldAJ (1994) Unhappiness and unemployment. The Economic Journal104(May): 648–659.
7.
ClarkAEOswaldAJ (1996) Satisfaction and comparison income. Journal of Public Economics61: 359–381.
8.
CohenMA (2008) The effect of crime on life satisfaction. Journal of Legal Studies37(June): S325–S353.
9.
DaviesSHinksT (2009) Crime and happiness amongst heads of households in Malawi. Journal of Happiness Studies11(4): 457–476.
10.
Di TellaRMacCullochR (2008) Gross national happiness as an answer to the Easterlin paradox?Journal of Development Economics86(1): 22–42.
DienerESandvikESeidlitzLDienerM (1993) The relationship between income and subjective well-being: Relative or absolute?Social Indicators Research28(3): 195–223.
13.
DittonJChadeeDFarrallSGilchristEBannisterJ (2004) From imitation to intimidation: A note on the curious and changing relationship between the media, crime and fear of crime. British Journal of Criminology44(4): 595–610.
14.
EschholzS (1997) Media and fear of crime: A survey of the research. University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy9(1): 37–59.
15.
FranklinTWFranklinCAFearnNE (2008) A multilevel analysis of the vulnerability, disorder, and social integration models of fear of crime. Social Justice Research21(2): 204–227.
16.
FreyBS (2008) Happiness: A Revolution in Economics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
17.
FreyBSStutzerA (2002) Happiness and Economics: How the Economy and Institutions Affect Well-Being. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
18.
GabrielUGreveW (2003) The psychology of fear of crime: Conceptual and methodological perspectives. British Journal of Criminology43(3): 600–614.
19.
GarofaloJ (1979) Victimization and the fear of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency16(1): 80–97.
20.
HaleC (1996) Fear of crime: A review of the literature. International Review of Victimology4: 79–150.
21.
HoughMRobertsJV (1998) Attitudes to Punishment: Findings from the British Crime Survey. London: Home Office.
22.
JostJTGlaserJKruglanskiAWSullowayFJ (2003) Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. Psychological Bulletin129(3): 339–375.
23.
KahnemanD (1999) Objective happiness. In: KahnemanDDienerESchwarzN (eds) Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 3–25.
24.
KahnemanDKruegerAB (2006) Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being. The Journal of Economic Perspectives20(1): 3–24.
25.
KreuterF (2002) Kriminalitätsfurcht: Messung und methodische Probleme. Opladen, Germany: Leske+Budrich.
26.
KubrinCEWeitzerR (2003) New directions in social disorganization theory. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency40(4): 374–402.
27.
LiskaAEWarnerBD (1991) Functions of crime: A paradoxical process. American Journal of Sociology96(6): 1441–1463.
28.
LongJSFreeseJ (2003) Regression Models for Categorical Dependent Variables Using Stata. College Station, TX: Stata Corporation.
29.
LüdemannC (2006) Kriminalitätsfurcht im urbanen Raum: Eine Mehrebenenanalyse zu individuellen und sozialräumlichen Determinanten verschiedener Dimensionen von Kriminalitätsfurcht. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie58(2): 285–306.
30.
MarkowitzFEBellairPELiskaAELiuJ (2001) Extending social disorganization theory: Modeling the relationships between cohesion, disorder, and fear. Criminology39(2): 293–320.
31.
MedinaCTamayoJA (2011) An assessment of how urban crime and victimization affects life satisfaction. Borradores de Economía 640. Bogotá, Colombia.
32.
MichalosACZumboBD (2000) Criminal victimization and the quality of life. Social Indicators Research50: 245–295.
33.
MooreSC (2006) The value of reducing fear: An analysis using the European Social Survey. Applied Economics38(1): 115–117.
34.
MøllerV (2005) Resilient or resigned? Criminal victimisation and quality of life in South Africa. Social Indicators Research72(3): 263–317.
35.
NaplavaT (2008) Kriminalitätsfurcht und registrierte Kriminalität. Monatsschrift für Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform91(1): 56–73.
36.
NorrisFHKaniastyK (1994) Psychological distress following criminal victimization in the general population: Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and prospective analyses. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology62(1):111–123.
37.
PantazisC (2000) ‘Fear of crime’, vulnerability and poverty. British Journal of Criminology40(3): 414–436.
38.
PedersenPJSchmidtTD (2009) Happiness in Europe: Cross-country differences in the determinants of subjective well-being. IZA Discussion Paper Series No. 4538. Bonn.
39.
PfeifferCWindzioMKleimannM (2005) Media use and its impacts on crime perception, sentencing attitudes and crime policy. European Journal of Criminology2(3): 259–285.
40.
PowdthaveeN (2005) Unhappiness and crime: Evidence from South Africa. Economica72(287): 531–347.
41.
ReubandK (2009) Portrayals of crime in the German mass media: Trends, patterns and impact on fear of crime. In: MeskoGCockroftTCrawfordALemaitreA (eds) Crime Media and Fear of Crime. Ljubljana, Slovenia: Tipografija Publishing, pp. 163–185.
42.
RossCE (1993) Fear of victimization and health. Journal of Quantitative Criminology9(2): 159–175.
43.
RountreePW (1998) A reexamination of the crime–fear linkage. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency35(3): 341–372.
44.
RountreePWLandKC (1996) Perceived risk versus fear of crime: Empirical evidence of conceptually distinct reactions in survey data. Social Forces74(4): 1353–1376.
45.
SampsonRJ (1997) Collective regulation of adolescent misbehavior: Validation results from eighty Chicago neighborhoods. Journal of Adolescent Research12(2): 227–244.
46.
SampsonRJGrovesWB (1989) Community structure and crime: Testing social-disorganizationtheory. American Journal of Sociology94(4): 774–802.
47.
ShawCRMcKayHD ([1942]1969) Juvenile Delinquency in Urban Areas, revised edn. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
48.
SkoganWG (1986) Fear of crime and neighborhood change. In: ReissATonryM (eds) Crime and Justice, Vol. 8. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp. 203–229.
49.
SkoganWG (1987) The impact of victimization on fear. Crime & Delinquency33(1): 135–154.
50.
SnijdersTAB (2005) Power and sample size in multilevel modelling. In: EverittBSHowellDC(eds) Encyclopedia of Statistics in Behavioral Science, Volume 3. Chichester, UK: Wiley, pp. 1570–1573.
51.
SnijdersTABBoskerRJ (2012) Multilevel Analysis: An Introduction to Basic and Advanced Multilevel Modeling, 2nd edn.London: Sage.
52.
SorensonSBGoldingJM (1990) Depressive sequelae of recent criminal victimization. Journal of Traumatic Stress3(3): 337–350.
53.
Van PraagBMSBaarsmaBE (2005) Using happiness surveys to value intangibles: The case of airport noise. The Economic Journal115(500): 224–246.
54.
WardRALaGoryMShermanSR (1986) Fear of crime among the elderly as person/environment interaction. Sociological Quarterly27(3): 327–341.
55.
WindzioM (2008) Social structures and actors: The application of multilevel analysis in migration research. Romanian Journal of Population Research2(1): 113–138.
56.
WindzioMKleimannM (2006) Die kriminelle Gesellschaft als mediale Konstruktion? Mediennutzung, Kriminalitätswahrnehmung und Einstellung zum Strafen. Soziale Welt57(2): 193–215.
57.
WindzioMSimonsonJPfeifferCKleimannM (2007) Kriminalitätswahrnehmung und Punitivität in der Bevölkerung – Welche Rolle spielen die Massenmedien? Ergebnisse der Befragungen zu Kriminalitätswahrnehmung und Strafeinstellungen 2004 und 2006. Research Report of the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony No. 103. Hannover, Germany.
58.
WinkelmannLWinkelmannR (1998) Why are the unemployed so unhappy? Evidence from panel data. Economica65(257): 1–15.
59.
WittebroodK (2002) Fear of crime and victimization in western industrialized countries: A multilevel analysis In: NieuwbeertaP (ed.) Crime Victimization in a Comparative Perspective: Results from the International Crime Victim Survey, 1989–2000. The Hague: Boom Juridische uitgevers, pp. 285–300.
60.
YinP (1982) Fear of crime as a problem for the elderly. Social Problems30(2): 240–245.
