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Psychology, Crime & Law

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On the relationship between criminal

victimization and fear of crime
a b
Wolfgang Bilsky & Peter Wetzels
a
Westflische Wilhelms-Universitt (WWU) , Fliednerstrasse 21,
D-48149, Mnster
b
Kriminologisches Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen (KFN) ,
Ltzerode Strasse, D-30161, Hannover
Published online: 04 Jan 2008.

To cite this article: Wolfgang Bilsky & Peter Wetzels (1997) On the relationship between
criminal victimization and fear of crime, Psychology, Crime & Law, 3:4, 309-318, DOI:
10.1080/10683169708410826

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 Psychology. Oimc d Law. Vol. 3, pp. 309-318
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ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

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CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION
AND FEAR OF CRIME
WOLFGANG BILSKY '*+ and PETER WETZELS
' Westfiilkche Wilhelms- Universitat ( W WU), Fliednerstrasse 21,
0-48149 Minster
Kriminologisches Forschwtgsinstituf Niedersachsen ( K F N ) ,
Lutzerode Strasse 9. 0-30161 Hannover

Past research has failed to detect consistent relationships between criminal victimization
and fear of crime. For women and elderly people higher levels of fear have k e n
reported in spite of lower risks of victimization when compared to other subgroups.
These findings are supposed to be mainly artefacts, resulting from the violation of re-
search requimcnts: an adequate specification of fear indicators, the symmetry of vic-
timization and fear indicators, the distinction of fear of actual as opposed to fictitious
victimization. the definition of non-victims, the correction for restriction of range of
correlations. the control of moderator effects, and the consideration of different
varianas within subgroups. T h e relevance of these requirements is demonstrated. using
data from a rcprescntativc German survey: First, correlational analyses of di5crcnt
fear indicators c o n h e d that feat of crime should not bc treated as a homogeneous
phenomenon. Second. in applying diBcrent assessment strategies, salience of family
context and anonymity proved crucial with rcspect to reporting violent incidents in close
relationships. Finally, repeated analyses with additional methodological controls on
every next step demonstrated that the fear-victimization relationship depends consider-
ably on the computational context.

Key words: fear of crime; victimization; violence.

Those who are familiar with the literature on fear of crime know that
research has mostly failed to detect consistent and substantial corre-
lations between criminal victimization and fear of crime. Overall
correlations were close to zero or slightly positive at best. Further-
more, women and elderly people showed higher levels of fear in spite
of supposedly lower risks of victimization in comparison with other
subpopulations. This latter finding is commonly known as the fear-
victimization paradox (cf. Boers, 1991; Eve, 1985; Fattah, 1993;
Fattah and S a m , 1989; S a m , 1990; Skogan, 1993).

*Comsponding author. Tel.: 49 251 83-34198. Fax: 49 251 83-34198. E-mail:

bilsklpsymi-muenster.de.
309
 310 W.BILSKY AND P.WETZELS

Closer examination of the respective studies reveals, however, that

these findings are largely artefacts. They are due to the violation of
one or the other of the following research requirements: (1) an ade-
quate definition of both fear of crime and victimization, (2) a sym-
metrical relation between indicators of victimization and fear,
(3) the distinction of fear resulting from an actual as opposed to an
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anticipated or fictitious victimization, (4) the appropriate definition of

non-victims, ( 5 ) the correction for restriction of range of correlations
resulting from unequal frequencies of victims and non-victims, (6) the
control of possible moderator effects, and (7) the consideration of
different variances within differemt subgroups of victims and non-
victims (cf. Bilsky, Wetzels, Mecklenburg and Pfeiffer, 1995).
In the following, the relevance of these research requirements is
demonstrated. First, some central methodological and conceptual defi-
ciencies of past research are sketched. Second, empirical examples are
used to illustrate how these deficiencies can be overcome by an incre-
mental step by step control of confounding factors. Data used for this
latter demonstration were collected in a nationwide representative
survey on fear of crime and victimization. This survey was conducted
by the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN) in
the old (OFS) and new (NFS) Federal States of Germany in 1992.
Samples used for calculations comprise up to 15771 subjects aged 16
years or more (cf. Bilsky, Pfeiffer and Wetzels, 1993; Bilsky et al., 1995;
Wetzels, Greve, Mecklenburg, Bilsky and Pfeiffer, 1995).

Deficiencies in Defining Central Concepts

Until today, much of our knowledge about the fear-victimization
relationship derives from research on poorly defined and operational-
ized concepts. Forfear ofcrime (foc), there is a long research tradition
using thematically narrow, single item measures focusing on anticipated,
fctitwus events (see the so called "standard item' in Table 1 as an
example) in order to represent a very differentiated and complex
phenomenon. Although the shortcomings of this kind of operationab-
tion have been evident and discussed in the literature for years, research
practice has hardly benefitted from these debates (cf. Boers, 1991;
Fattah, 1993; Skogan, 1993). Aside from these mainly methodological
weaknesses, conceptual deficiencies exist as well. Thus, criminological
research on fear of crime has widely ignored theoretical evidence from
decades of psychological research on anxiety and stress, coping, and
psychological well-being (Bilsky, 1993; Bilsky and Wetzels, 1994b; 1995).
Both the necessity to distinguish different forms of (personal) fear,
and considerable overlap between fear indicators and well established
 CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION AND FEAR OF CRIME 31 I

Table 1 Intercorrelationsof fear indicators: representative sample OFS ( N =3631)

Afraid (frequency)of being ...

Burgled ( m A )
Beaten and injured (C06B) 0.66
Mugged and robbed (CO6C) 0.71 0.75
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Sexually abused (C06E) 0.37 0.50 0.52

Probability of being ...
Burgled (CI I A ) 0.59 0.46 0.53 0.28
Beaten and injured (CIIB) 0.41 059 0.51 0.34 0.59
Mugged and robbed (CIIC) 0.49 0.51 0.60 0.35 0.66 0.72
Sexually abused (CIIE) 0.24 0.35 0.36 0.65 0.34 0.45 0.47
How safe ddwould you feel if
you were alone, outside, at night 0.43 0.40 0.47 0.44 0.35 0.32 0.37 0.35
in this area?(standard item CIO)

psychological constructs could be demonstrated in the KFN-survey

(e.g., Bilsky, 19%; Bilsky and Wetzels, 1993; Wetzels et al., 1995). Thus,
intercorrelations between several theoretidy distinct fear indicators,
relating to different forms of crime, ranged from r = 0.24 to r = 0.75.
Furthermore, correlations between these indicators and the 'lstandard
item' of fear of crime (Boers, 1991) proved to be only moderate (r = 0.32
to r = 0.47; see Table 1). The variability found between intemmlations
thus underscores the complexity of the phenomenon under study and the
irua&quaey of using conceptually b h e d single item indicators.
In addition, correlations between a set of foc-indicators on the one
hand and another set of psychological variables on the other revealed
considerable overlap in a representative subsample of the KFN-survey
(N= 899, OFS): Trait-anxiety, coping styles, perceived coping com-
petencies and interpersonal trust, for instance, and different indicators
of personal fear had more than twenty percent of variance in common
(Shrunken R-Square = 0.21; Bilsky and Wetzels, 1994a; see Cohen and
Cohen, 1983, for detailed information about set correlations). In the
light of these findings, much of what has been said about fear of crime
in criminological literature Seems to be theoretically and methodologi-
cally questionable.
Victimization has often been insufficiently defined in survey research
as well. Speaking of a "fear-victimization-paradox' for instance, im-
plies a general and comprehensive conceptualization of victimization
in such a way that victimizations inside and outside close relationships
are true and complementary subsets of victimizations as a whole.
While the ubiquitous citation of the "paradox' suggests just this,
empirical findings are a "slap in the face' of such an understanding.
 312 W.BILSKY A N D P. WETZELS

Comparing incidence rates from the National Family Violence Resur-

vey (NFVR) and the US National Crime Survey (NCS), for instance,
Straus and Gelles (1990) found a huge discrepancy: the NFVR rates
of physical violence against a spouse were more than 73 times higher
than those of the NCS (Wetzels, 1993). Explanations for this discrep
ancy are manyfold though tentative. One possible explanation sug-
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gests that family problems are not salient in criminological survey

research and, therefore, remain unreported. Another is that, even
when salient, the threshold for reporting private and intimate experi-
ences of victimization is higher than for other, more public incidents.
Finally, the victims anonymity might not be sufficiently guaranteed in
conventional survey research, both vis-a-vis the interviewer and the
offender (e.g., a family member, friend, etc.).
In the KFN-survey, the aforementioned shortcomings were partly
controlled by using a modified drop-ofi sealed envelope technique in
addition to conventional survey interviewing. In order to highten the
salience of family problems, we changed the focus of interviewing
by changing the setting and the technique of questioning: Having
responded to our questions on fear and victimization in a face-to-face
interview, interviewees were asked to fill in a self-report questionnaire
on physical and sexual abuse within the family and on property crime,
after the interviewer had left the room. After completion, the ques-
tionnaire was put into an envelope by the interviewee and only given
back to the interviewer after having been sealed. In addition to a shift
of attention, thus, a maximum of anonymity was guaranteed as well
(Bilsky, Pfeiffer and Wetzels, 1993; Wetzels and Bilsky, in press).
This double assessment of victimization showed some remarkable
results. As can be seen from Figure 1, victims of physical violence in
close relationships (74+ 192) are definitely not a true subset of victims
of violence in general as assessed in face-to-face interviews (74 out of
236). Rather, the rate of victims of violence in close relationships that
are identified by the dropoff technique but not by standard survey
questions is quite high (n = 192, i.e., 44.9% for a one-item measure;
Wetzels and Bilsky, in press).
Furthermore, when crossclassifying victims of severe violence ac-
cording to sex and age (Table 2), our data reveal that the rate of female
victimization clearly exceeds that of males when taking violence in close
relationships into account. Obviously, the fear of women is not with-
out foundation and the so called fear-victimization-paradox turns out
to be nothing but a myth, resulting from a biased operationalization
of victimization.
Even the fact that the elderly are less frequently victimized than
younger people (Table 2) can be explained at least partly for men: The
 CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION AND FEAR OF CRIME 313

Vlctlms IdontMod onty

by hca to tru Intonrkw
(Wo ltom mo8wn:
(1) 8BB8Uh 8 WO8pOn
(2) 8BB8Uh *Out WO8pOfh)
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V i d m r ldontl(kd by hu
to foco Intorvlow and
dropoff qUOS(lOM8k.

VlcUm8 IdonMod only by

dropoff qumrmnmtrw
(on. ttmm m o 8 w n :
8B88Uh wllh Or WflhOU 8
wo8pon by 8 do-
ml8hd offondor)

Total numbor of vkUmB: 428

Non-vlcllmr: 5211

P o ~ a n t . 0 0of vldlms of phyrlul vlolonu In do80 nl8UonBhlpr

MenUlfod only by dropoff quertionnoh (nforrtng to R e
total numbor of W m r of phydcrl vlolenu): 4 4 , O %
Flgwe 1 Identification of victims of assault b face-to-face interview and dropoK-
questionnaire on violence in close relationships &revalence 1987-91, N = 5689).

Ti& 2 Victims of scvere violence' in the old and new federal states of Germany
during the last five years (1987-1991) by age and scx (face-to-face interview and
dropoffquestionnaire,only respondents who received questionnaire on fear of crime)

OFS victims 88 18 110 64

(lo, 35%) (3, 78%) (1 1, 67%) (8, W
'
)
Non-victims 762 458 832 663
(89. 65%) (%, 2Ph) (88, 33%) (9 1, 2Wo)
N 850 476 942 727
(loo,Wh) (100,Wh) (100, W ! ) (100, W!)
NFS victims 36 9 38 27
(8, 57%) (3. Who) 10, 04%) (6, 76%)
Non-victims 384 263 341 372
(91, 43%) (%,70%) (89, %%) (93.24%)
N 420 272 379 399
(loo, 00%) ( I 00,W!) (1 00,W/a) (1 00. 00%)

' F e - t o - f a htcrviCW: mbbcry. (LM.uII wilh a W U ~ I I , TPP; d r O ~ f f q U e s t i O ~ . i r rYYCTC

:
physiul violence (CTS,cf. Strauc 1M).rape by family or houscbold mcmben.
 314 W.BILSKY AND P.WETZELS

rough calibration of age categories confounds the high-risk group of

young men with that of the mid-aged, thus raising the overall level of
victimization in this age category. This has to be taken into account
when discussing the fear-victimization-paradox with respect to age.
While most of the discussion on the fear-victimization relationship
relates to data about anticipated or fictitious victimization, fear as a
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consequence of previous victimization deserves particular attention,

especially when focusing on age-related differences. In the KFN-
survey, subjects who had actually been victimized were questioned
about the impact of previous victimization on their level of fear. As
can be seen from Figure 2, some remarkable differences between
victims of threat and violence showed up (N=3135): Victims older
than 60 years of age reported an increase in fear as a consequence of
previous victimization more frequently. This finding might perhaps
best be interpreted as resulting from a hightened salience of vulner-
ability and lack of coping resources in the subsample of elderly victims
(Greve, Hosser and Wetzels, 1996).
Thus far, we have concentrated mainly on sketching some method-
ological and conceptual deficiencies in the study of the fear-victimiza-
tion relationship. Next, we will demonstrate that this relationship can
be further clarified by controlling for statistical artefacts.

Controllingfor Artefacts: Some Examples

In the following exploratory analyses, we focus on the effects of
different definitions of non-victims, the restriction of range of correla-
tions, between-group differences in fear of crime, and the role of
victimization in close relationships. Our calculations are meant to
illustrate methodological problems in this field and are not intended
as a comprehensive and final documentation of our research. To
demonstrate the importance of methodological control, the same data
set from the KFN-survey (N=9311) was analyzed repeatedly, with
additional controls for each subsequent step. The foc-measure used is
an aggregated index comprising both dective and cognitive compo-
nents of fear related to physical violence, robbery, and sexual assault/
rape. The index of victimization used parallels this foc-index, thus
satisfying the principle of symmetry (cf. Wittmann, 1988; see also
Bilsky, 1993). The results of our analyses are summarized in Table 3.
On afirst step, correlations between foc and victimization were based
on a wide definition,of non-victims. According to this definition, the
number of non-victims equals the number of interviewem who had not
reported a violent victimization during the past five years. As shown in
Table 3, the resulting correlations (r =0.14and r= 0.15, rrspectively) are
Downloaded by [Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales] at 14:53 27 March 2015

-I
I
I
I
1
I
I

1
CRIMINAL VICIIMIZATION A N D FEAR OF CRIME

25
 316 W. BILSKY AND P. WETZELS

Tabk 3 Fear-victimization relationship: (correlations bctw&n fear of crime and

criminal victimization)

Age of respondenr
<60 360
step 1:
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Wide (standard) definition of n o n - v i c h 0.14 0.15

step 2:
Narrow defiition of non-victims 0.24 0.19
step 3:
Controlling for restriction of range of correlations: rcpeatcd ran-
dom sampling of non-victims,equal sample am of victims and
non-victims (mean cornlation) 0.30 0.35
step 4
Controlling for betwan group dflerenas: only women in the
OFS, rcpeatcd random sampling on non-victims, qual sample
size of victims and non-victims(mean correlation) 0.36 0.37
Step 5:
Including victimization in closc relationships: only women in the
OFS, repcatcd random sampling on non-victims,qual sample
size of victims and non-victims (meancorrelation) 0.32 0.46

only slightly positive, thus confirming the results often reported in

criminological literature (Kury, Diirmann, Richter and Wiirger, 1992).
On the second step, the wide definition of non-victims was replaced
by a narrow one. This means that the number of non-victims equals the
number of interviewets who had not reported my kind of victimization
during the past five years. The rationale of this definition is that
violence - although not explicitely mentioned in the survey interview -
might well be a byproduct of other forms of victimization. Choosing a
narrow definition of victims should thus prevent the masking of fear-
victimization interrelations by "hidden' violence. The increase in corre-
lations (r =0.24 and r =0.19; Table 3) stresses the importance of such
confounding effects.
Step three focuses on the fact that victimization is a rure event,
resulting in an unequal number of victims and non-victims. Since
asymmetry of distributions affects the range of possible correlations,
repeated random samples were drawn from the non-victims, each
approximately matching the number of victims (narrow definition).
Mean correlations based on nine random samples are reported in
Table 3, showing again an increase in the interrelation of fear and
victimization (r=0.30 and r =0.35).
Descriptive analyses of our data revealed quite different variances
of foc in several subsamples of the KFN-survey. To control for these
 CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION AND FEAR OF CRIME 317

between-group differences, analyses on step four were restricted to

women from the OFS. Other things being equal (see step 3), mean
correlations increased again, although not dramatically (Table 3).
In steps one to four, the definition of victims was based only on the
data from the standard survey. However, following our own argu-
ments on the importance of victimization in close relationships, we
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revised the definition of victims in step five by incorporating the

information available from the drop-off study. With the other controls
conforming to the step four analyses, mean correlations of 0.32 and
0.46 were found in this final round of computations (Table 3).
Without speculating about possible reasons for the differing size of
intercorrelations between the two age-groups in this final step, it
should be evident by now, that the outcome of correlational analyses
between fear of crime and criminal victimization is heavily affected by
some minor controls of the computational context, and that the
interrelation of both variables is quite substantial.

Summary and Conclusions

In this paper, we tried to show that there is a considerable gap
between theoretical and methodological know-how in social sciences
and its use in criminology as regards research on fear of crime and its
relation to criminal victimization. There is also another gap within
criminology between theoretical reasoning and practical research, as
illustrated in contemporary publications and at international con-
ferences (e.g. in Budapest, 1993). As a consequence, the ignorance of
general theoretical and methodological know-how and the inconsist-
encies within criminological research practice have contributed to a
permanent repetition and reiteration of equivocal and misleading
results of research into fear of trim!.
Given that they fit into the prevailing political climate, criminologi-
cal research results are willingly accepted by politicians. Since agenda
setting in the media, and political initiatives and activities are quite
likely to affect the situation of both victims of crime and of fear of
crime, it is a matter of scientific responsibility and ethics whether or not
criminologists stick to well established but obviously poor practices in
research on fear of crime. To our understanding, better studies are
needed - and possible - in this politically delicate and sensitive domain.

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