The Fear of Crime in the United States

Abstract

Though the citizen's fear of becoming a victim of a crime of violence is irrational, it is nevertheless real and must be heeded by public policy-makers, who would be better equipped to neu tralize it if they had a better understanding of its causes and a better appreciation of its undesirable consequences. The fear of crime in the United States is a fundamental social problem which has not yet received attention in proportion to its severity and which may well prove to be more difficult to treat than criminality itself.