Measuring Safety & Fear of Being Victimized on College Campuses

Measuring Safety & Fear of Being Victimized on College Campuses

Introduction

This study attempts to measure the fear of crime on the campus of mainly the University of New Mexico and other campuses across the nation. I attempt to explore the fear of crime from a student’s perspective. This research will enhance the research that has been done on the issues and topics of fear and crime on college campuses. This study will measure the level of perceived risk by taking into consideration various variables such as demographics, routines, and prior experiences with victimization. With this research, I seek to answer the following questions: How afraid are students of being victimized while on campus, and what factors contribute to that fear of crime. The research will hopefully yield several contributions, such as knowing the level of fear that student’s experience, universities can determine the best approach to making their student population feel safer. Further research could be conducted to study whether students’ fear of crime is related to their awareness of crime, and whether that awareness of crime reduces the possibility of victimization. Another interesting aspect is that college campuses are communities with their own set of norms and regulations, and some have populations comparable to the size of small towns and cities. Studying fear of crime within those communities can provide more insight into fear of victimization in small units, such as neighborhoods, or larger units, such as cities.

Literature - Fear of Crime on Campus

Campus crime has become a more significant area of research, with much of the literature focusing on specific areas such as binge drinking, whether university police should carry weapons, overa...

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...d on campus. Knowing what factors cause students to be afraid or not afraid of being victimized on campuses can provide universities with ideas about how to address these fears and make students aware that crime on campus is an important issue to be taken seriously.

Difficulties/Cautions

Del Carmen (2000) suggests that in addition to studying how students feel about crime on campus, researchers should examine how safe faculty members feel on campus. While fear of crime on campus among students is emerging as a significant area of research, little, if any, research has been done on faculty members’ perception of their campus. In this study, it is clear that perception of risk is a key factor in fear of crime on campus. However, further research could be developed to explain what factors are shaping students’ perceived risk of victimization on university campuses