Unsafe situations: Exploring explanations of situational fear of crime in the city of Leiden

• In Event: Situational Fear and Risk in Place and Time

Abstract

Background and purpose
In the fear of crime literatures, we note an increasing interest in studying fear of crime as a (collection of) short-lived experience(s) in citizens’ daily lives, that are tethered in space and time. While available studies have already demonstrated large microgeographic differences within cities or neighbourhoods, an important question remains what might underly and characterize such experiences. The purpose of the current study is to explore personal, spatial and temporal explanations of situational fear of crime.

Methods and results
A survey has been conducted among approximately 700 residents of the city Leiden, in the Netherlands. Residents were asked to reflect on a recent moment in which they felt unsafe. They reported the time and location at which they situationally felt unsafe and reported a broad range of characteristics of the situation, on topics such as incivilities, social control and the built environment. We then explored to what extent (a combination of) these characteristics explains situational fear of crime. Preliminary results and their implications will be discussed.

Authors

• Marianne Franken, Leiden University

• Jelle Brands, Leiden University

• Janne van Doorn, Leiden University

• Maarten Kunst, Leiden University