Across the wide prairie: Exploring fear of crime in a small Canadian municipality. Issue 2 (June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hodgkinson, Tarah; Lunney, Kate
• Is Part Of: Journal of criminology. Volume 54:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 109
• Page End: 125
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Subjects: Canada -- fear of crime -- gender -- non-metropolitan -- victimisation survey; Criminology -- Periodicals; Criminology -- Australia -- Periodicals; Criminology -- New Zealand -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 364.05
• DOI: 10.1177/0004865821999082
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2633-8076

Abstract

Although fear of crime is well-researched in urban domains, the predictors of fear of crime in non-urban contexts are less established. Using a sample of 559 people, this study aims to address this gap by evaluating the role of individual and ecological-level predictors on fear of crime in a small Canadian municipality. Key findings of this study include support for the influence of social cohesion, informal social control and social and physical disorder on fear in a small municipality. However, no clear relationship is found between gender and fear of crime. Additionally, nuanced relationships between social predictors and fear emerge that may be uniquely explained by non-metropolitan context. The findings have implications for the use of urban-based criminological theories of fear and for the use of crime prevention and fear reduction strategies in non-metropolitan contexts.