The fear of crime is a new dimension of crime. It is not only a burning issue in Bangladesh but also all over the world. Fear of crime was theorized to be related to experiences of victimization, but this assumption was soon to be disputed. This study is based on empirical data which are from quantitative and qualitative research methods and the research is exploratory in nature. This study finds that 38-47 years of age group 36% of them are highest victimized by fear of crime. And 71% of males and 29% of females are victimized by fear of crime. Fear of crime affects far more people in Bangladesh than the crime itself, and there are sound reasons for treating crime and fear of crime as distinct social problems. Every year a huge number of people are suffered from fear of crime. Fear of crime has a great impact on our education, economy, and infrastructure. Important links exist between fear of crime and causation of victimization, location of occurrences, time of victimization, presence of law enforcement agencies, and levels of knowledge of the victims about the victim support services. The study findings play an important role in policy making and also for the upcoming researcher in the criminological arena.
The fear of crime is perhaps the oldest of all crime types. It is virtually impossible to find a history of any society which does not record criminals. Although fear of crime is the oldest and most recurring criminal phenomenon of history, it has been largely ignored by criminologist. The fear of crime is a new dimension of crime. It is not only burning issue of Bangladesh but also all over the world (Faruk and Khatun, 2007).
Thus far we have established that fear of crime has different origins for different types of people and that it has a direct effect on crime policy attitudes, evalu-ations of illegal immigrants, and support of the poli-tical system. Fear of crime is a very prevalent issue today. Many people in our society are express anxiety and fear about crime, and about being victimized. The level of fear is depends on many factors, including gender, age, any past experiences with crime that a person may have, where one lives, and ones ethnicity. All of these factors have an impact on fear levels (Karmen, 1984). Fear is a complicated emotion. We feel fear for many different reasons and in many different ways. Fear is more than an automatic res-ponse to danger. When we fear something, it is often the result of complicated interactions between us, our physical and social environment and our cultural background. Fear of crime is defined as an antici-pation of victimization, rather than fear of an actual victimization (Bohm and Haley, 2005).
This type of fear relates to how vulnerable a person feels. Fear of crime as an issue has gained momentum over the past 20 to 30 years. When this issue first came about, researchers became interested in it as a source of discovering the “dark figure" of crime, that is, the crime that goes unreported. Fear of crime was theorized to be related to experiences of victimization, but this assumption was soon to be disputed. Res-earchers realized that numerous other factors played a role in the fear of crime, and thus research turned to discovering what these factors were. It is an "emo-tional reaction characterized by a sense of danger and anxiety produced by the threat of physical harm... elicited by perceived cues in the environment that relate to some aspect of crime”. Fear of crime has become very salient in both politics and the media thus fear of crime is now a socially relevant issue (Devasia and Devasia, 2013).
Fear of crime is defined as an anticipation of victi-mization, rather than fear of an actual victimization. Victimization causes loss of life and property as well as overwhelming fear of insecurity. These have seri-ous consequences for democracy, economic deve-lopment, social capital and associational life generally. Bangladesh has witnessed upsurge in victimizations during the past two decades for the cause of fear of crime. Increasing incidence of victimization has led to a paralyzing fear which has in turn affected economic and social life in the country.
Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study are examining the fear of crime and victimization is a new concept in Bangladesh, but every person has lots of fear about crime. So In this study it is important to measure the fear of crime and victimization.
The objective of this research is that –
1) To identify the types of crime which are res-ponsible for fear?
2) To find out the causation of fear of crime.
3) To know the socio-Demographic factors and working behind creating fear of crime.
4) To measure the role of policing in reducing of fear of crime.
5) To measure the role of social organization
Theoretical Orientation
Research need to be based on a theoretical framework. This means that the researcher designing the project needs to have an integrated set of ideas about how she or he will operate within the social environment to be studied and how the evidence that is gathered will be interpreted. Because in most research the researcher is the instrument for data collection, the positions, interests, and biases of the researcher necessarily be-come part of the study. Hence, it is preferable to systemize and set out those positions at the beginning rather than pretend that the researcher is value-free, impartial vessel open to all experience. Theoretical framework is thus necessary for better interpretation, generalization as well as for minimizing bias. In the present study, we explore on the theories of fear of crime (Akers, 1994). The logic of the routine-activity argument is straightforward: Routine patterns of work, play and leisure time affect the convergence in time and place of motivated offenders who are not ‘hand-led, suitable targets, and the absence of guardians. If one component is missing, crime is not likely to be committed. And if all components are in place and one of them is strengthened, crime is likely to increase. This approach has helped explain, among other things, rates of victimization for specific crimes, rates of urban homicide, and “hot spot”- areas that produce a disproportionate number of calls to police (Vold et al., 1998; Faysal, 2022).
Social Disorganization Theory was one of the most important theories developed by the Chicago School, related to ecological theories. The idea that social conditions can influence peoples behavior Shaw and McKay recognized that the pattern of delinquency rates corresponded to the "natural urban areas" of Park and Burgess Concentric Zone Model. Hence, delin-quency was not "constitutional", but was to be cor-related with the particular ecological environment in which it occurs. In this context, Shaw and McKay asserted that ethnic diversity interferes with commu-nication among adults, with effective communication less likely in the face of ethnic diversity because differences in customs and a lack of shared experi-ences may breed fear and mistrust. Political crime creates fear in the society. According to lifestyle theory of victimization was developed by Michael Hindelang, Michael Gottfredson, and James Garofala in 1978.
The lifestyle theory of victimization centers on a number of specific propositions that outline the essence of the theory and signal direction for future research. This proposition explained the dimension of victimization which related to fear of crime. Life style is an indicator of measuring fear of crime and victi-mization (Vold et al., 1998).
This study is based on empirical data which are from quantitative and qualitative research methods. This research is exploratory in nature. Methodologies have been discussed about selection of areas and respon-dents, variable and source of data, method of data collection, processing, data analysis or measurement of data. For this research I have selected interview and questionnaire method for data collection.
Research Type
This research is an exploratory research. Here I have tried to explain some relation behinds the Fear of Crime and Victimization.
Study Area
For a good research, site selection is very essential. Tangail sadar is research study area. The study is selected Tangail municipal and tow unions based on simple random sampling process. The study is covered on rural area, urban area, residential area and business area.
Sample Selection
Here is not a huge sample taken for this research. Only 100 samples taken for conducting this research. These small sizes of population are selected by probability random sampling. Here population is known, defined and a list of the sampling population is available.
We know that, (Baker, 1999)
Sample size, n = N
1+N(e)
Where
n = sample size, N = population size, e = Simple error
Here
Population size (From secondary data), N = 535300 Sample error considering 10%, e = 10/100= 0.1
Now,
Sample size,
= 99.984
Here, the number of total population in Tangail sadar is 521104 (Population Census Report, 2011) and growth rate of population is 2.72%. So at 2014 the number of total population has become 535300.
Data Collection Methods and Technique
Primary methods are used to collect the data for this study. In this study I used face to face interview for data collection. The questionnaire have combined with the various types of question like, open ended, close ended, & contingency question with rapport buildings.
Data Processing and Analysis
Data is analyzed by using descriptive thematic writing. Collecting data are analyzed using descriptive sta-tistics. Excel and SPSS software also used to utilize and analyze the data. Here data has been analyzed through various statistical tools such as frequency and percentage. For visualization and understanding data have been tabulated using Pie-Chart, Bar-Chart, Line-Chart maps, cross tabulation and others.
Hypothesis
Hypothesis I: Living place of the respondent has effect on fear of crime and victimization
Hypothesis II: Sex of the respondent has effect on fear of crime and victimization
Hypothesis III: Age of the respondent has creates fear of crime and victimization
Hypothesis IV: Educational background has effect on fear of crime and victimization.
Socio-demographic Characteristics
Sex of the Respondent
Sex of the respondent is a function of socio-demo-graphic characteristics of a victim. With the exception of sexual assault and domestic violence, men have higher risk of crime than women.
Table 1: Relationship between Sex and Fear of crime or Victimization of Respondent.
From this study in Table 9 find out that the highest 51% of the respondents said their political ideology is not at all and the lowest 3% of the respondents said their political ideology is Jamat. Here 22%, 20%, 4% of the respondent Said they have fear about crime, whose political ideology is Awami League, B.N.P And National Party (A). Majority of the respondent said they have fear of crime whose political ideology is not specific.
Fig. 2: Political ideology of the respondent (Bar chart).
Fig. 2 show the chart of political ideology of the res-pondent. Here shows the highest bar is not - supported any political party. And also or ruling government there 22% of people said that they support the Awami League.
Table 10: Relationship between level of fear of crime or Victimization of Respondent.
From this study in Table 10 find out that the highest 76% of the respondents said they have moderate fear about crime and the lowest 7% of the respondents said they have no fear about crime.17% of the respondent said they have lots of fear about crime.
Types of crime is caused for fear
Table 11: Relationship between types of crime or Victimization of Respondent.
From this study in Table 11 find out that the highest 12% of the respondent said they have feared by abdu-ction. Then 10% and 9% of the respondent said they have feared by arson and harassment. 7%, 7%and 7% the respondent said they have feared by murder, power abuse and brutality. Also 5%, 5%, 4% and 3% of the respondent said they have feared by kidnapping, corruption, eve teasing and subscription. Finally16% of the respondent said they have no fear about crime.
Fear of Victim against Individual
Relationship between offender and victim is playing an important role in the commission of crime. It helps to find out a good relation between fear of crime and victimization.
Table 12: Responsible for fear of crime or Victimi-zation of Respondent.
Fear is a natural and an emotional response of crime. Under many circumstances, it is a beneficial, even life-saving emotion. Under the wrong circumstances, it is an emotion that can unnecessarily constrain behavior, restrict freedom and personal opportunity, and threaten the foundation of communities. Fears of crimes create financial loss and physical loss. It hampers business investment and destroys public peace. It has a great impact on our economy. The fear of crime is hinder of development. Fear of crime is defined as an anticipation of victimization, rather than fear of an actual Victimization (Ahuja, 1996). Many people in todays society express anxiety and fear about crime, and about being victimized. The fear of crime is increasing day by day among third world countries like Bangladesh. This study found that 38-47 years of age group and 36% of them are highest victimized by fear of crime. And 71% male and 29% female are victimized by fear of crime. Fear of crime affects far more people in Bangladesh than crime itself, and there are sound reasons for treating crime and fear of crime as distinct social problems. Every year a huge number people are suffered fear of crime. Fear of crime has a great impact on our education, economy and infrastructure. There is a growing recognition that decreasing the fear of crime and victimization rate is one of the primary goals of good government. Important links exist between fear of crime and causation of victimization, location of occurrences, time of victimization, and presence of law enforcement agencies and levels of knowledge of the victims about the victim support services. In this situation
The researchers wish to
expand their research work for the future researcher and for the policy maker.
Thanks for the support.
The authors declare no
conflicts of interest.
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Academic Editor
Dr. Sonjoy Bishwas, Executive, Universe Publishing Group (UniversePG), California, USA.
Department of Criminology and Police Science, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail, Bangladesh
Mia MM, Rahman MA, and Siddiqua T. (2022). Fear of crime and victimization: an explorative study, Br. J. Arts Humanit., 4(6), 171-182. https://doi.org/10.34104/bjah.02201710182