Journal of Social Welfare and Human Rights

Revisiting Fear of Crime in South Africa
Lincoln J. Fry Ph. D

Abstract
A large volume of literature exists about the fear of crime and highlihts its importance in most areas of the world. This paper differs from standard literature reviews which cover studies generated by national and international crime victim surveys. This paper is based on survey research which generated a national probability sample of 2,400 South African respondents and examines fear of crime in an attempt to identify the factors which predict that phenomenon in South Africa. This studycontinues a series of papers about crime and victimization in South Africa andattempts to make a contribution to thatcountry’s literature on fear of crime, and the national dialog on crime prevention. The study identified four variables that predicted fear of crime, being a crime victim, an urban resident, the perception that the police are corrupt and poverty. The fact that so many respondents had been crime victims within the preceeding year was a surprising finding, even for South Africa, with one third of the sample either a property or violent crime victim, and 8 percent of the victims experienced both types of crime. The most important policy issue identified by the study was the repeat or multiple victimization of respondents.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jswhr.v5n1a2