Public and Crime: Victims and Fear of Crime

Crime and the Public

  • Social context of crime
  • The path from the commission of a crime to the punishment of the offender is complex.
  • Crime is not simply a product of the mind of the criminal but a social product as well.
  • Various stages in the process of crime (Ainsworth, 2000).

Stages in the Process of Crime (Ainsworth, 2000)

  • Will the victim notice the crime? (e.g., cyber crime)
  • Will the victim report the crime? (e.g., rape, stalking)
  • Will the police record the crime? (e.g., stalking)
  • Will the offender be caught by the police? (e.g., card fraud)
  • Will the offender be prosecuted? (e.g., rape)
  • Will the perpetrator be found guilty? (e.g., rape)
  • Will the perpetrator receive a sentence? (e.g., stalking)

Attitudes Towards Crime

  • Crime is a public issue, and public opinion affects the criminal justice system.
  • The public’s concern about crime needs to be understood as it may affect how criminal justice is delivered.
    • From prosecution to sentencing
    • To disposal of offenders in the community

Public’s Knowledge of Crime

  • In the year prior to March 2018, the question posed was, how many violent crimes do you think the police recorded in England and Wales (victim-based crimes)?
    • Possible answers:
      • 10.83 million
      • 5.67 million
      • 1.26 million
      • 0.25 million
  • Of these, how many do you think related to homicide?
    • Possible answers:
      • About 341
      • About 730
      • About 2090
      • Slightly more than 5000

Knowledge of Crime

  • The public’s perception of crime rates is often inaccurate.
  • Ainsworth & Moss (2000) – UK University Criminal Justice Students
  • Unrealistic to expect the public to have an accurate perception of crime rates (Howitt, 1992, 1998b).
  • More important is the general public’s perception of the extent to which society might be becoming increasingly criminal and risky (Doherty, 1990).

Crime Trends

  • Crime has been mostly decreasing, but there have been some recent increases for certain crimes.
  • Generally low levels, historically speaking.

Fear of Crime

  • The public’s fear of criminal victimization is demonstrated in different ways (Dijt et al., 2007).
  • Indicators of fear of crime:
    • Burglary of house likely or very likely in the coming year
      • England and Wales: 35%
      • Scotland: 21%
      • Ireland: 33%
      • Australia: 36%
      • Canada: 25%
      • USA: 16%
    • Feeling unsafe in street after dark
      • England and Wales: 32%
      • Scotland: 30%
      • Ireland: 27%
      • Australia: 19%
      • Canada: 17%
      • USA: 19%
    • % Homes with a burglar alarm
      • England and Wales: 42%
      • Scotland: 33%
      • Ireland: 49%
      • Australia: 27%
      • Canada: 28%
      • USA: 28%

Fear of Crime as a Political Concept

  • Fear of crime is an important political concept.
  • Governments may actively try to influence fear of crime.
  • The less fear of crime, the better job the government is doing.
  • Example: Surveys of public’s fear of crime regularly conducted – British Crime Survey (2003)
    • 21% worried about violent crime
    • 15% worried about burglary
    • Women more worried than men
    • Belief that crime is increasing more likely to worry about crime

Influences on Fear of Crime

  • Direct knowledge about crimes in the immediate community and beyond (e.g., Direct experience of crime).
  • Mass media focuses on serious and sensational crimes.
  • Aspects of our personality and social characteristics
    • Feeling lonely, poor education, believing neighbors are untrustworthy, lack of vigilance are associated with increased fear of crime (Bazargan, 1994).

Fear-Victimisation Paradox (Clark, 2004)

  • No clear relationship between fear of crime and victimization rates.
  • Elderly report highest levels of fear of crime (Bazargan, 1994)
  • Women more fearful than men – particularly of violent crime by strangers in a public place (Stanko, 1995).
  • Most likely victims of crime:
    • Young males at the most risk overall.
    • Men are actually most at risk of an attack by a stranger.
    • Women more likely to be attacked by someone they know (e.g., Acquaintance rape, marital rape).

Significance of Fear of Crime

  • The extent to which fear of crime is a significant feature in people’s lives is actually relatively low (Farrall & Gadd, 2004).
  • Crime phobia (Clark, 2004)
    • Similar to other phobias (e.g., Social phobia, blood-injury phobia, agoraphobia)?
    • Findings suggest fear of crime is not like a phobia.
    • Fear of crime is not dysfunctional or irrational.
    • Crime measures may not actually be measuring the emotion of fear.

Theories of Fear of Crime

  • Three important theories on the fear of crime:
    • Cultivation Theory
    • Availability Heuristic Theory
    • Cognitive Theory

Cultivation Theory (Gerbner, 1972)

  • Assumption that mass media, television in particular, are means of cultural transmission and affect fear of crime.
  • Relationship between heavy viewing and a distorted perception of crime and violence is statistically weak.
    • Type of neighborhood and demographic characteristics of sample render the relationship negligible (Ditton et al., 2004).
    • Findings have not been replicated in other communities (e.g., UK; Gunter, 1987).
  • Approach is perhaps too basic (Liska & Baccaglini, 1990).
    • In communities where people felt unsafe, local newspapers covered more crime.

Availability Heuristic Theory (Shrum, 1996)

  • Most people don’t spend their days thinking about the risk of crime victimization in each location they enter based on their statistical knowledge of crime rates!
  • People might feel unsafe in some situations – a woman who gets a lift from a stranger she met at a nightclub might become afraid when she remembers a young woman had been found murdered recently leaving the same nightclub.
  • Availability Heuristic:
    • The extent to which the media (or other factors) create vivid and accessible images of crime in people’s minds, this imagery will be quickly accessed and influence fear of crime.
    • Contents of TV Series:
      • Crime and Rape dominant themes.
      • Viewers of the programme quicker in answering questions about rape.
      • Findings supported by other research (Vitelli & Endler, 1993).

Cognitive Theory (Winkel, 1998)

  • Fear is hypothesized to be a product of Risk x Seriousness.
    • Subjective victimization: belief about the likelihood or risk of being a victim.
    • Perceived negative impact: belief about the seriousness of the consequences of crime.
  • The person becomes a victim of crime. Coping mechanisms come into play to deal with their experience. Subjective risk of future victimization increases following experience of victimization. Negative impact decreases due to coping processes and consequently the person's view of the negative impact of victimization. Fear of crime (risk x seriousness) remains unchanged via downward comparison processes.
  • Evidence to support the theory (Winkel, 1998).
    • Tested with a variety of crime victims and control groups.
    • But evidence remains that some victims are profoundly affected by their victimization (i.e., No downward comparison process; Miethe, 1995).
  • Much more to learn about the public’s perception of and fears about crimes.
  • Who is most at risk of the consequences of victimization.

Victims of Crime

  • Increasing importance of victims in the CJS
    • UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power (1985)
    • Sympathetic treatment of rape victims and child witnesses
  • Victimology
    • Victim-offender interface
    • Original focus on victim characteristics that increased likelihood of victimization
    • Recent focus on how psychology can help victims

Psychological Consequences of Being Victimized: PTSD

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
    • “An anxiety problem that develops in some individuals after extremely traumatic events, such as combat, crime, an accident or natural disaster (APA, 2000).”
    • Reliving of the event via intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares.
    • Avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma.
    • Severe anxiety which disrupts day-to-day life.
    • Persistent enduring symptoms (> 1 month).

PTSD – DSM V

  • Stressor (death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury or sexual violence):
    • Direct Exposure
    • Witnessing in person
    • Indirect exposure
    • Repeated or extreme indirect exposure to aversive details
  • Intrusion Symptoms
    • Recurrent, repetitive intrusive memories
    • Nightmares
    • Dissociative reactions
    • Intense, prolonged distress
    • Marked physiological reactions

Restorative Justice

  • Retributive justice focuses on imposed punishment of the offender by the CJS
  • Restorative justice focuses on repairing the harm done by criminal activity through cooperation of all parties involved
  • All those harmed are the focus (victim, victim’s family, offender, offender’s family, community etc.)
  • Healing and re-integration are the main objectives
  • Outcomes:
    • Satisfied victim
    • Offender feels they have had fair treatment
    • Mediation between offender and victim to identify the factors that led to the crime.

Restorative Justice Programmes

  • Victim-Offender Mediation Programmes
    • Meeting between victim and offender aiming to resolve conflict and constructing own approach towards justice.
    • Research shows high satisfaction rates, victim participation rates, restitution completion rates, reduced fear in victims, and reduced re-offending rates (Umbreit et al., 1994)
  • Conferencing Programmes
    • Similar to VOMs but extended to families, community support groups, police, social welfare, and attorneys
    • Positive outcomes with juvenile offenders (Van Ness & Strong, 1997)
  • Other Strategies
    • Circles, Ex-Offender Assistance, Restitution, Community Service etc.

Victim Decision Making

  • Victims are central to bringing crimes into CJS
    • 3/5 crimes in the US are reported to police by victims (Greenberg & Beach, 2001)
    • Other important groups: police, witnesses, etc

Factors Influencing Victims' Decision to Report a Crime

  • Factors involved in victims deciding to report a crime (Greenberg & Beach, 2001, 2004)
    • Talking to others about their victimization
    • Type of advice given to the victim: calling the police is most influential.
    • Type of crime: burglaries more likely than theft.
    • Victims’ decision-making processes in property crimes: reward/cost driven, affect driven, socially driven.