Examination of Environmental Elements of Fear of Crime : Field experiment in a university campus

• ONODERA Masae

  Graduate School of Letters, Chukyo University

• KIRIU Masayuki

  Forensic Science Lab., Yamagata Prefecture Police H.Q.

• HANYU Kazunori

  Department of Psychology, Nihon Universiy

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

• 犯罪不安喚起に関わる環境要因の検討 : 大学キャンパスを用いたフィールド実験

Abstract

What places, time zones or atmosphere provoke fear to encounter to crime (Fear of Crime)? If fear of crime appears as a result of interaction not only with human factors such as being conscious of assailants and victims but also with environmental elements that promote or repress fear of crime, it is necessary to pay attention to the environmental factors. To keep both the reality of situations, i.e., ecological validity, and the experimental control of factors examined, i.e., internal validity, this research adopted field experiment in a university campus. Participants of the experiment were 52 students who commuted to the campus, and each participant walked through there alone twice, one in the daytime and one in the nighttime, along the predesigned route. After each walk they rated 14 points along the route on 6 5-point scales. The rating scales consisted of : 1) if a potential assailant is hiding or not, 2) if prospect is enough or not, 3) if the participant can escape in encountering crime or not, 4) the number of potential strangers in the scene, 5) brightness, and 6) if they felt a fear or not. Results show first that less prospective, more decrease others' existence, more increase hiding places, and more decrease possibility of escape provoke higher fear of crime, second that darkness increase fear at night, and third that females feel more fear than males. These results support the findings of preceding studies using survey or interview. Finally, the results also imply the usefulness of field experiment in the field of fear of crime research.

Journal

• MERA Journal

  MERA Journal 8 (2), 11-20, 2003-08-05

  Man-Environment Research Association

Keywords

• fear of crime
• physical environment
• environmental elements
• field experiment
• university campus

Details

• CRID: 1390564238078658176
• NII Article ID: 110009665493
• DOI: 10.20786/mera.8.2_11
• ISSN: 24320366
• ISSN: 1341500X
• Text Lang: ja
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • CiNii Articles
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed