Abstract

This paper is a review of the studies on the fear of crime. It focuses on the social and psychological factors that influence the fear of crime and some methodological issues for future empirical studies. Due to the ambiguity of the concept, there are difficulties to draw a conclusion from various studies with different perspectives. The fear of crime is a complex construct in which the factors inside and outside of the community as well as personal variables interact with one another. The actual risk of victimization, victimization history, socialization process, mass media, perceived efficiency of official control, structural changes of community and incivility factors, and perceived vulnerability seem to be related to the fear of crime.