Conceptual progress in understanding fear of crime in railway stations

David Uzzell ¹

Jennifer Brown ¹

 

Abstract:Previous research demonstrates there are discrepancies between actual crime and perceived beliefs about crime. The likelihood of threatening incidents and the potential impact of a given incidents are the focus of the present study of how psychological and environmental cues influence people's fear of crime in railway stations. Having established the salience of individuals’ construct evaluations of the likelihood and impact of being the victim of crime based upon travellers’ experiences and observations, the analysis demonstrated that conceptualisations of impact and likelihood are multifaceted, i.e. different types of threats influence evaluations including psychological threats as a result of the actions of others, physical threats initiated by others and threats posed by the railway station environment itself. The implications of these findings are discussed for the design and management of railway station environments.

Key‑words: railway stations, fear of crime, risk, threat.

 

 

O progresso conceptual na compreensão do medo do crime nas estações ferroviárias

Resumo: As investigações anteriores mostram que existem discordâncias entre as taxas do crime reais e as percepções e as crenças sobre o crime. A probabilidade de ocorrência de incidentes ameaçadores e o seu impacto potencial são o alvo deste estudo que trata da maneira como as características psicológicas e ambientais podem influenciar o medo do crime nos utentes das estações ferroviárias. Partindo da saliência das avaliações individuais dos passageiros acerca da probabilidade e do impacto de serem vítimas do crime (baseadas nas suas experiências e observações), a análise dos dados mostrou que as conceptualizações acerca do impacto e da probabilidade são multifacetadas. Os diferentes tipos de ameaça influenciam as avaliações, incluindo quer as ameaças psicológicas e físicas resultantes de acções de outrem, quer as provenientes do próprio ambiente da estação ferroviária. As implicações destes resultados para o planeamento e a gestão dos espaços das estações ferroviárias são discutidas.

Palavras­‑chave: estações ferroviárias, medo do crime, risco, ameaça.

 

 

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Full text only available in PDF format.

 

 

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¹ Department of Psychology, University of Surrey.