Victimisation and worry about crime. Analysing the relationship between victimisation and worry about crime, and the effects of personal and neighbourhood characteristics on this relationship

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Ward, BJ, 2021. Victimisation and worry about crime. Analysing the relationship between victimisation and worry about crime, and the effects of personal and neighbourhood characteristics on this relationship. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

Crime has fallen in England and Wales since the mid-1990s (Office for National Statistics, 2021) and has become more concentrated on certain individual and households (Hunter & Tseloni, 2016; Ignatans & Pease, 2016). Despite this the majority of the population believe crime to be rising nationally (Office for National Statistics, 2017), this is known as the fear/victimisation paradox (Lee, 2011). Victimisation is commonly found to increase risk of fear of crime (Brunton-Smith & Sturgis, 2011; Hale et al., 1994; Krulichova, 2019; Weitzer & Kubrin, 2004), however results vary when crime type specific measures are used.

Crime Survey for England and Wales data is analysed in this study. Chi-square tests of association are first used to establish a significant relationship between victimisation and worry within three crime type categories: household; vehicle; and personal. Bivariate Multilevel Modelling is then employed to analyse the relationship between victimisation and worry about crime at the individual and neighbourhood level, identifying how individual, household and neighbourhood characteristics affect victimisation risk, risk of being worried about crime, and the relationship between them.

Significant positive associations were found between victimisation and worry for all crime categories, the increased odds of worry associated with a victimisation experience were greatest for vehicle crime (OR=2.84), followed by household crime (OR=2.40), and lowest for personal crime (OR=1.84). Low to moderate positive correlations were also confirmed between victimisation and worry at the individual level across crime types, which were not accounted for by individual, household and neighbourhood characteristics included in the model. A positive correlation was initially found between victimisation and worry at the neighbourhood level for household and vehicle crime, whilst no such correlation was found for personal crime. The correlation persisted for vehicle crime despite accounting for individual, household, and neighbourhood characteristics, whilst these characteristics explained the relationship for household crime.

Individual level analysis offers support for the victimisation theory of fear of crime across crime types, whereas neighbourhood level analysis offers support for indirect victimisation theory only in the case of vehicle crime. The effects of individual, household and neighbourhood characteristics on victimisation are well explained by opportunity theories of crime, including the lifestyle/exposure model. Individual and neighbourhood characteristics are well explained by vulnerability theory and ideas of social and physical disorder, and social networks, whereas household characteristics are less well explained. This is attributed to the limited evidence of such characteristics affecting fear of crime in the literature.

Item Type:	Thesis
Creators:	Ward, B.J.
Date:	September 2021
Rights:	The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	29 Nov 2022 14:13
Last Modified:	29 Nov 2022 14:13
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/47541