Citation

Junger M. Br. J. Criminol. 1987; 27(4): 358-383.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of this study war to look for causes of women's fear of crime. It was hypothesised that experiences of sexual harassment, which usually are not serious but could occur relatively often, can lead women to be fearful and restrict themselves to their homes. A distinction was made between victimisation inside the family and outside the family. The results showed a strong relation between fear/anticipation and victimisation for situations inside the family frame. However, there appeared to be a weaker relation between victimisation and fear/anticipation outside the family; a low educational level war the best predictor of higher fear/anticipation scores. Techniques of neutralisation can explain the difference in results for situations inside and outside the family frame. Finally it is suggested that women differ in there ability to handle potentially dangerous situations (by neutralising feelings of insecurity). This means that there are two "explanations" for women's high scores on fear and anticipation scales: they have experiences of sexual harassment, which men usually do not have to confront; and thg score highr on fators which influence people's ability to handle potentially dangerous situations.