Urban safety and social change: International and interdisciplinary perspectives

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

This panel explores fear of crime, urban safety, and legal cynicism, highlighting the roles of socialization, political values, and activism in shaping how people navigate urban spaces. The first paper examines fear of crime as an experience and heuristic, offering novel tools for measuring and analyzing crime fear. The second paper investigates how gendered social norms and neighborhood-level dynamics shape safety strategizing. In the third paper, women’s safety in urban spaces is analyzed in the context of “Reclaim the Night” activism. The fourth paper uncovers how routine police stops in adolescence impact legal cynicism. In the fifth paper, adolescents’ perceptions of safety in public places are explored within the context of #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo activism. Drawing on research conducted in Australia, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, this interdisciplinary panel provides criminologists, policymakers, and urban planners with new insights on the evolving relationship between crime, politics, and inequality.

Sub Unit

• Area VIII. Perceptions of Crime & Justice / 67. Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk

Individual Presentations

• A New Fear of Crime Scale Developed from Emotion Theory, Qualitative Interviews, and Factor Analyses - Aubrey Etopio, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Emily Berthelot, University of Nevada, Reno

• Local gendered dynamics: A study of perceptions of risk in high crime Australian communities - Chloe Keel, Griffith University; Murray Lee, University of Sydney

• After #MeToo: Exploring Responses to Workplace and Urban Sexual violence Through the 2024 Kolkata Protests - Sukanya Bhattacharya, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• Cumulative injustice? Police stops and the development of legal cynicism in the life course - Thiago Oliveira, University of Manchester

• Movements and mindsets: How #MeToo and #BLM shape young adults’ safety perceptions - Rebecca Lennox, University of Missouri-St. Louis; Nicole Rader, Mississippi State University

Discussant

• Stephen Farrall, University of Nottingham