Determinants of the Fear of Crime: The Combined Effects of Country-Level Crime Intensity and Individual-Level Victimization Experience

Abstract

Researchers have long been interested in explaining variations in fear of crime. Much of the existing literature uses a micro-level approach, primarily focused on the relationship among individual characteristics, with fear of crime as a dependent variable. Yet, to further our current understanding of determinants of fear of crime, it is important to consider the individual characteristics in a larger context. This study explores the factors that influence fear of crime at both country and individual levels. Hierarchical linear modeling is applied to data from the European Social Survey (Round 3, 2006). Findings indicate that the proportion of those who are fearful differs significantly across the twenty-two European countries in the sample. Interestingly, the aggregate model demonstrates that, net of other factors, the proportion of those who are fearful decreases as the country crime rate increases. Models predicting individual level fear show that the effect of experiencing victimization is conditional upon the crime rate of the country in which the respondent resides. Specifically, victims in high crime countries are less fearful than those in countries with less crime.