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Perceptions of Crime and Fear of Victimisation Among Elderly People

  • Alan H. Clarke (a1)
Abstract

Most of the research into fear of crime among the elderly has been conducted in the United States of America particularly during the past ten years. This paper begins by summarising the major findings which have emerged from this work. Attention is then turned to similar studies which have recently been undertaken in Britain. The findings from a small sample survey of elderly residents in a town in the south of England are then reported. In discussing the data obtained from eighty interviews fear of crime is considered in relation to perceptions of crime, the amount of social contact residents have with relatives, friends and neighbours and the nature and quality of the immediate residential environment.

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NOTES

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20 Mawby, R. I. 1982, op. cit.

21 Hough, M. and Mayhew, P. 1983, op. cit., 25.

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23 Of the 145 respondents in the survey by Clarke, and Lewis, , 1982, op. cit. 19 (13.1 per cent) reported a previous victimisation experience.

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34 Furstenberg, F. 1971, op. cit.

35 Braungart, M. M. et al. 1980, op. cit., 59.

36 Clarke, A. H. and Lewis, M. J. 1982, op. cit., 56.

37 Antunes, G. E. et al. 1977, op. cit.

38 Hough, M. and Mayhew, P. 1983, op. cit., 24.

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41 Lawton, M. P. and Yaffe, S. 1980, op. cit.

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43 Garofalo, J. and Laub, J. 1978, op. cit.

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49 Baumer, T. 1978, op. cit., 259.

50 Brooks, J.The fear of crime in the U.S. Crime and Delinquency, 20 (1974), 241245. According to Brooks: ‘The fear of crimes of violence is not a simple fear of injury or death… but, at bottom, a fear of strangers’ (ibid., p. 241).

51 Merry, S.The management of danger in a high-crime urban neighbourhood. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association, 11 1976, Washington, D.C. Quoted in Yin, P. P. 1980, op. cit. p. 498.

52 Baumer, T. 1978, op. cit., 259.

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55 Baumer, T. 1978, op. cit. 258.

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57 Lawton, M. P. and Yaffe, S. 1980, op. cit.

58 Gubrium, J. F.Victimisation in old age: available evidence and three hypotheses, Crime and Delinquency, 20 (1974), 245250, quotation p. 250.

59 For a discussion of ways of reducing fear and helping elderly victims of crime see Mawby, R. I. Crime and the elderly: experience and perceptions. In Jerrome, D. (ed.), Ageing in Modern Society. Groom Helm, 1983.

60 Doob, A. N. The role of the mass media in creating exaggerated levels of fear of being the victim of a violent crime. In Stringer, P. (ed.), Confronting Social Issues: Applications of Social Psychology. Academic Press, London, 1982.

61 Sundeen, R. A. and Mathieu, J. T.The fear of crime and its consequences among elderly in three urban communities. Gerontologist, 16, (1976), 211219.

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Ageing & Society
  • ISSN: 0144-686X
  • EISSN: 1469-1779
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