The Factors that Influence Fear of Crime amongst Female Citizens

Abstract

There is sometimes a confusion amongst researchers and citizens about crime and fear of crime and how it affect the lives of citizens. The former concern citizens who have experienced victimisation previously and the latter concerns anxiety and perceived risks of future victimisation. People's fear of crime is usually influenced by factors such as demographic characteristics, vulnerability, previous victimisation, enviornmental characteristics, and social lifestyle. Whilst there is a body of existing literature on fear of crime in western developed countries, there is a nascent body of research on the factors that influenced the fear of crime amongst female citizens in Venezuela. Therefore, this study add the the emerging scholarship in the country. This study used a qualitative methodology with fifty face to face interviews which were conducted in different geogrphical locations in Venezuela using a snowball sampling technique. The interviews were conducted using a semi structured opened ended style questionnaire which was conducted over a two month period during 2022. When these factors were evaluated in Venezuela, they showed consistency but also highlighted that citizens socioeconomical status was an influential factor which increaded citizens anxiety and perceived risk thereby contributing to elevated fear of crime.