The measurement of fear of crime
Abstract
The volume of research on fear of crime in the United States is substantial and continues to regularly appear in sociology and criminology journals. Despite the amount of research on the subject, the measurement procedures most frequently used are suspect because of theoretical and methodological shortcomings. We present a conceptual definition of fear of crime and then systematically review the way it has been measured in research over the last fifteen years. The review indicates that whik omnibus fear of crime and risk of crime measures are only moderately correlated, a substantial number of studies have used risk measures and generalized to fear. Suggestions for future research are offered.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Traditional methods relying on surveys and cross-sectional analysis present perceived safety related spaces in a static form, providing only a snapshot at the time of tangible realities, excluding intangible psychological triggers related to socio-spatial settings.
“Traditional methods relying on surveys and crosssectional analysis present 'perceived safety related spaces in a static form, ' providing only a snapshot at the time of tangible realities, excluding intangible psychological triggers related to socio-spatial settings.”
From Women's perceived safety in public places and public transport: A narrative review of contributing factors and measurement methods (2025) · cites this paper as Ferraro & Grange, 1987
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Foster, S., & Giles-Corti, B. (2008) · Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2008.03.017 · Cited by 588 · see citing works
Sakib, N., Bhuiyan, A. K. M. I., Hossain, S., Al Mamun, F., Hosen, I., Abdullah, A. H., Sarker, M. A., Mohiuddin, M. S., Rayhan, I., Hossain, M., et al. (2022) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-020-00289-x · Cited by 414 · see citing works
Dubey, S., Bailey, A., & Lee, J. (. (2025) · Cities · doi:10.1016/j.cities.2024.105534 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Exploring the determinants of victimization and fear of online identity theft: an empirical study
Guedes, I., Martins, M., & Cardoso, C. S. (2023) · Security Journal · doi:10.1057/s41284-022-00350-5 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Fear of fraud amongst older adults: a hidden epidemic?
Button, M., Shepherd, D., Hawkins, C., & Tapley, J. (2025) · Security Journal · doi:10.1057/s41284-025-00485-1 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ferraro, K. F., & Grange, R. L.
- Affiliations
- Northern Illinois University (US)
- University of North Carolina Wilmington (US)
- ORCID
- Ferraro, Kenneth F.
- Venue
- Sociological Inquiry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1987-01
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 70-97
- ISSN
- 0038-0245 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-682X
- OpenAlex
- W1995409817
- Cited by
- 908
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 63 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 41 · 2015: 46 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 34 · 2012: 36
- FWCI
- 19.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Sociological Inquiry (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
- Keywords
- fear of crime, risk perception, measurement validity
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
