Fear individuals that their neighbourhood is threatening’

Fear of crime Most regular people have a built in fear of crime, it is installed into as children whether that’s a fear of falling victim of crime or fear of being caught committing a crime, we are nurtured to fear it through school and parents, fear of crime can be defined as an ’emotional reaction characterized by a sense of danger and anxiety… produced by the threat of physical harm..

. elicited by perceived cues in the environment that relate to some aspect of crime.’ Garofalo (1981: 840).  Fear in crime can actually defer pending on a person’s life experiences especially if you have fallen victim to a crime; if a person has been a victim before then that person will have a higher fear of it, this was argued by Hough (1985) and Balkin (1979) as they found that it can be linked into what neighbourhood an individual grew up in can also be a factor on a person having a strong fear of crime and if any of their neighbours have become a victim as well. Further studies into the fear of crime with individuals above the age of 50 by the Beth Johnson Foundation from 2006; the study’s findings showed that individuals who had fallen victim to crime via being mugged and or burgled have a higher fear of crime which seems straight forward; this study does not consider the opinions of a bigger population as it does not include people under the age of 50 so this study misses out hugely on those peoples view points.

Other writers that have looked into victims fear of crime is Jewkes (2010: 155); this study finds that victims of crime are more likely to be fearful of the future and if they may fall victim again due to crime but also people that know victims of crime may also have a high fear of crime as well as they know about the painful experience people may go through. A growing social issue is the fear of crime; which can be accounted for within certain neighbour hoods that have a high criminal active statistics (Kinsey etal. 1986).  ‘ People may come to be fearful of criminal victimisation because they perceive their immediate environment to be threatening, thus noisy neighbours, teenagers hanging around street corners and flats with broken windows may all signify to some individuals that their neighbourhood is threatening’ (Baumer 1985; Baumer and Hunter 1982), notwithstanding this could also be caused by other social factors within a person’s environment and other issues; Box, Hale and Andrews (1988: 341) looked into what these other environmental factors which are : victimisation, confidence in the police and criminal justice system, how safe a person feels in situation, and how serious  the various offences are Within this research . Research study was carried out by homes in close by to one another other; therefore the environmental factors should be very similar for each respondent. However other factors, in vulnerably section; personal knowledge of crime; and confidence in the criminal justice system should be unique for every respondent. Resulting in diverse replies.

The British crime survey is a great tool when looking into crime and peoples fear of it; in fact can be a better indicator of crime than actual crime statistics. They are a great way into seeing the British public’s perception of crime. The British crime surveys are face to face survey with people from England and Wales asking questions to people about their experience with crime for the past 12 months. The British crime survey for 2009/2010 shows that a big proportion of individuals , sixty per cent , believe crime has rose nation wide over the past few years; this has also been the case within the statistics since the survey was first introduced in 1996. Compare that to crime stats from those years and you’ll actually see a decrease from most crimes between 2002 and 2010; offences such as fraud , sexual offences , robbery and drug related crimes and most other crimes decreased those past 8 years (Home Office 2010) .

Consequently the results of the British crime survey shows disparity between the actual crime statistics; those who took the survey seem to fear crime or at least think it’s happening more on the regular is misinformed and is unjust when comparing the figures. So why do those who took the survey feel that way? A factor that must be considered is the media.   Media encouraging the fear of crime Most people find about crimes through our media; whether its newspapers, radio, television and crime fiction novels (Greer 2005); it’s an assumption that the media exaggerate crime stories within its publications and is seen my those people previously mentioned in the British crime surveys which leads to people thinking these crimes exist more regular than they do and which leads to people fearing crime. It would be naïve to believe that the fear of crime just comes from the media as previously mentioned those who have been victims of crime will fear it as well those who know friends and/or family members who’ve fallen victim of these crimes but its highly believed most people’s  anxieties come from the media. Jewkes (2010) research “ numerous writers have examined the proposition that the media present crime stories (both factual and fictional) in ways which selectively distort and manipulate public perceptions, creating a false picture of crime which promotes stereotyping, bias, prejudice and gross oversimplification of the facts.

Their conclusion is that it is not just official statistics that misrepresent the picture of crime, but that the media are also guilty of manipulation and fuelling public fears.” And this view point is seen by more criminologists Surette (1998) and Roberts and Doob (1986) as they view the medias reporting on crime negatively and see how influential it is “ The public’s perception of victims, criminals, deviants, and law enforcement officials is largely determined by their portrayal in the mass media. Research indicates that the majority of public knowledge about crime and justice is derived from the media. Western society is fascinated with crime and justice. From films, books, newspapers, magazines, television broadcasts, to everyday conversations, we are constantly engaging in crime ‘ talk’.

In this sense; the mass media play an important role in the construction of criminality and the criminal justice system.”