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IPS129 Claudia V. et al.
fear of crime. No effect of unemployment rate, size of migrant population or
income inequality was found in the data.

2. Methodology
One issue that needs to be flagged about fear of crime and perception of
risk is that, to some degree, ‘worry is a good thing’, a ‘socially beneficial
activity’ that prompts us to care for ourselves, our children and others (Jackson
3
et al 2009) . Perception of risk is important, as it can be ‘an accurate predictor
of future victimisation’ and it prompts us to adopt ‘protective or risk-avoidant
4
behaviours’ (Brewer et al 2007 in Dichter and Gelles 2012) . Accordingly,
strategies to improve perceptions of safety should not be ‘aimed naively at
eliminating fear of crime’, but at ‘synchronizing fear with actual levels of crime’.
5
(Cordner 2010) .
Ceccato (2012) classifies three ‘types’ of fear of crime – ‘individual’, which
6
is often associated with personal experience of crime, ‘neighborhood’ which is
a result of what you experience where you live, and ‘social macro’, described
as a ‘social phenomenon’ shaped by media and forming part of broader
anxiety about global and social change (Ceccato, 2012).
Measuring the cost of violent crime victimization is difficult, and using that
data to make comparisons across time and place can be even trickier. A
significant amount of research has attempted to answer the question: how
7
much does it cost to be a victim?
Researchers have developed a variety of terms to characterize the
numerous effects on costs of crime. While not all researchers use the same
terminology to analyze costs, studies generally consider the following
elements:
• Tangible costs: Tangible costs are those where the effect can be valued by
observing product or service transactions that arise in response to or in
anticipation of criminal activity. Such costs include the value of damaged
property, medical care to treat injuries, and costs to install alarm systems to
avoid crime.

3 Jackson J, Gray E and Farrall S (2009). ‘Untangling the Fear of Crime’. Criminal Justice Matters, 75:1, pp 12-
13. Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.
4 Dichter M and Gelles R (2012). ‘Women’s Perceptions of Safety and Risk Following Police Intervention for
Intimate Partner Violence’. Violence Against Women 2012, Volume 18 No 12.
5 Cordner G (2010). ‘Reducing Fear of Crime: Strategies for Police’. Office of Community Oriented Policing
Services, U.S. Department of Justice, p.5.
6 Vania Ceccato, (2011), The Urban Fabric of Crime and Fear, Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York
London.
7 Arthur Lurigio at Loyola University of Chicago notes that since the 1980s, the cost of crime victimization
has been studied in three main ways: (1) drawing upon several data sources and applying a “basic costs
calculus;” (2) surveying people on their willingness to pay for crime reduction programs; and (3) asking
people to estimate “the effects of crime on housing prices and other community amenities” (Lurigio, 2014),
or GAO, COSTS OF CRIME - Experts Report Challenges Estimating Costs and Suggest Improvements to
Better Inform Policy Decisions, 2017
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