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| Many factors impact fear of crime - such as night lighting |
Tarah Hodgkinson
Just because an area may appear dangerous, doesn’t mean it is dangerous. Criminological research indicates that fear of crime has all kinds of impacts on community safety. It often correlates with people retreating into their homes and out of the public sphere, creating more opportunities for crime and generating even more fear.
This field of research examines the kinds of indicators of disorder that lead people to be afraid, including both physical and social factors. These can range from groups of teenagers hanging around, seemingly without purpose, broken windows and graffiti, to sex workers openly soliciting and visible drug use.
However, we don’t often discuss the way in which these physical and social indicators of disorder can lead to misperceptions about the type of crime that may be occurring.
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| Digitized Fulcrum safety audits - one of our SafeGrowth tools to compare reported crime with spatial patterns of fear |
I was recently putting together a short fact sheet about crime and social disorder for a mid-sized community in Ontario. Like many cities across the country, this community was dealing with a significant rise in visible homelessness in their downtown core. And similar to many cities, there was concern that the increase in homelessness would also mean an increase in crime and violence.
To analyze the police data, I again used a data analysis tool called the location quotient, a metric that measures crime specialization to inform policy and prevention. This differs from crime rates or crime severity measurements which are easily influenced by population size.
CRIME SPECIALIZATION
In this case, the findings indicated that while social disorder specialized in the downtown area, no other crime type, including violence, was overrepresented downtown. This does not mean that violence is absent in the downtown area. What it does mean is that, compared to the rest of the city, the downtown does not account for most violence.
While social and physical indicators of disorder, including homelessness, may create perceptions that an area has a crime and violence problem, that often isn’t the case. Rather, what is happening, is that the police are overwhelmingly responding to social disorder and visible indicators of poverty and disadvantage.
This isn’t surprising for criminologists, but it is an important finding for communities and policy makers. It doesn’t mean that these areas should be policed more heavily, but instead that we need to address the roots of poverty and homelessness in these areas. That is how we create safe and inclusive places for all.
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The fear of crime often has a more detrimental effect on community cohesion and well-being than the actual crime itself. While various factors contribute to the fear of victimization, it is often disproportionate to real victimization rates. Perceived or actual criminal activity can destabilize communities, disrupt neighborhood order, and create uneasiness and distrust in the environment. This anxiety can quickly transform into fear – not just of crime, but of becoming a victim. The impact of living in constant fear can be devastating to individuals and their commitment to their communities.
Evaluating both the perception and reality of crime in a community is vital for public safety, but understanding the perception of fear is crucial. Does the community's perception align with reality? This analysis is critical because the fear of victimization can lead to community destabilization, causing residents to leave and newcomers to arrive. This cycle typically results in community deterioration. In short, fear leads to higher community turnover, which leads to a more transient environment, lower property values, and rents. Lower property values and rents cause an increased business turnover, fewer jobs and services, and more resident turnover, perpetuating a downward spiral in the community. As the spiral worsens, it becomes increasingly difficult to reverse course and restore the community's vitality.
In a community facing such a downward spiral, it is crucial to recognize that the impact of crime extends beyond the primary victim. The ripple effect of a single criminal act instills fear in neighbors, friends, and family members, and through their social networks, it can spread and even amplify to local businesses, the broader community, and beyond.
KC Poulin, CEO of Critical Intervention Services
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