Fear of Crime

Kenneth F. Ferraro is Professor of Sociology at Purdue University.

"This is the first study of its kind to use national data to examine the risk and fear of crime across various types of victimizations—types of crime. This book examines relationships between official crime risk, perceived risk, and fear of crime among various demographic categories, within different environmental contexts. It specifies and measures two outcomes when actors perceive high victimization risks: fear and constrained behavior. Comparing the explained variance for these results with that for many studies which omit perceived risk shows this model to be an improvement over other investigations in this field of study." — Julian Roebuck, Sul Ross State University"Ferraro is well acquainted with all of the current research in this area which makes it interesting to read because you know that he has considered the important existing arguments relative to this issue. The blend of symbolic interactionist theory with traditional survey methodology gives the reader much to consider, long after you finish. It starts you thinking about applying this to more areas than simply fear of crime." — Marilyn D. McShane, California State University-San Bernardino

• List of Figures List of Tables Preface Acknowledgments 1. Whither Fear of Crime? 2. Interpreting Criminal Realities: "Risky Business" 3. Measuring Risk and Fear of Crime 4. Official and Perceived Victimization Risk 5. Hitting Paydirt with Risk Interpretation? 6. Are Older People Prisoners of Fear? 7. Unraveling Fear of Crime Among Women 8. Constraints on Daily Living 9. Science and Civility: Implications from Risk Interpretation Appendix A: Methods for the Fear of Crime in America Survey Appendix B: Descriptive Statistics and Interview Schedule for the Fear of Crime in America Survey Appendix C: Supplementary Tables Notes References Name Index Subject Index