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Top1. Introduction
Fear of crime is a significant social and political problem (Jackson, 2009). Fear of crime is also referred to as fear of victimization (Addington, 2011). The term therefore refers to the fear of being a victim of crime but not the actual likelihood of being a victim of crime (Ferraro, 1995; Hale, 1996). Nevertheless, fear of crime is also shaped by the nature, severity and frequency of actual crimes. For example, the more serious a crime, the lower the level of perceived likelihood needed to stimulate some level of fear (Warr, 1984, 1987). These findings follow earlier work that suggested both the seriousness of the offence and the perceived likelihood of victimization were the ‘proximate causes’ and necessary conditions for fear (Warr & Stafford, 1983).
Further evidence suggests that fear is linked to who perceives themselves as most at risk (Box, Hale, & Andrews, 1988). Perceived risk of vulnerability, also known as perceived likelihood of victimization (Ferraro, 1995), refers to the perceived likelihood or risk an individual has of becoming a victim or having a crime committed against them. In fact, considerably more people experience fear of crime rather than actual criminal victimization (Addington, 2011; Jackson, 2009). One explanation might be that fear includes a sense of vulnerability, both in terms of perceived likelihood of risk and perceived seriousness of the risk (Hale, 1996). Winkel (1998) also referred to perceived likelihood of risk as ‘subjective victimization risk’ and ‘perceived negative impact’, with the latter influencing fear more so than subjective victimization risk. This indirectly supports the link between fear and vulnerability to risk. Perceived likelihood of victimization has become one well-established explanatory variable of fear of crime (Chadee & Ying, 2013) that is supported throughout the literature (Chadee, Austen & Ditton, 2007; Chadee & Ying, 2013; Cook & Fox, 2011; Gainey, Alper & Chappell, 2011; Hale, 1996; Lee & Hilinski-Rosick, 2012; Ozascilar, 2013; Warr & Stafford, 1983).
The advancement of technology has also led to new crime types, such as cyber-crime, and new forms of victimization including cyber bullying (Pederson, 2013) or identity theft (e.g., Roberts, Indermaur, & Spiranovic, 2013). The role of the internet is of particular importance when considering research into fear of cyber-victimization (Henson, Reyns & Fisher, 2013). This is because both perpetrators and victims are generally heavy internet users (Walrave & Heirman, 2011) and a high prevalence of cyber-victimization exists amongst university students (Radda & Ndubueze. 2013). Cyber-crimes and victimization have therefore also become important in the discussion on fear of victimization (Radda & Ndubueze, 2013). As a result, the impact of the media has also been considered throughout fear of crime literature, particularly in terms of how this shapes fear of crime. For example, Weitzer and Kubrin (2004) found that those who use the internet where less fearful than those who indicated local news television as their primary news source.