International students’ fear of crime: an Australian case study
| Date | 01 March 2017 |
| Published date | 01 March 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865815608676 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Australian & New Zealand
Journal of Criminology
2017, Vol. 50(1) 77–99
!The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0004865815608676
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Article
International students’ fear
of crime: an Australian
case study
Lin Xiong
Discipline of Psychology, College of Arts, Victoria University,
Melbourne, Australia
Centre for Environmental Safety and Risk Engineering,
Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
Christopher Nyland
Department of Management, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
Bonnie Sue Fisher
School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati,
OH, USA
Kosmas X Smyrnios
School of Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Abstract
Concerns about safety and fear of being victimised by crime have become important factors
determining international students’ decisions of where to study. Host governments and edu-
cational agencies have introduced a range of programs to ease such concerns. However, these
recommendations are seldom informed by the criminolog y literature on fear of crime and the
effectiveness of most of these practices has been rarely tested. Drawing upon a survey on 610
international students studying in Melbourne, Australia, during the period of 2009 and 2010,
this paper finds that an overwhelming majority of international students have experienced
racially oriented victimisation and have feared that they may be victimised because of their
ethnic origin. Opportunities for socialization help international students feel safe about an
environment, but it also increases their levels of fear of crime . Perceived social disorder
makes international students feel unsafe and heightens their levels of fear of being victimised.
Findings provide important implications for a range of stakeholders in countries that host
international students.
Keywords
Fear of crime, international students, safety, social disorder, social integration
Corresponding author:
Lin Xiong, Victoria University, Level 2, Building 4, Werribee campus, Melbourne, VIC 3030, Australia.
Email: lin.xiong@vu.edu.au
Introduction
Education institutions and nations that have not prioritised international students’
safety from crime have experienced periods of significant downturn in their share of
the international education market. A 2012 British Council survey found that through
2006–2012 personal safety rose from being the 17
th
to the 5
th
most important factor
influencing where international students choose to study (British Council, 2012). The
Council’s finding has been supported by Hobsons (2014) that in 2014 safety from crime
was the fourth most important determinant. When explaining the factors that have
increased international students’ concern for their safety, the British Council (2012)
highlights media reports of attacks on international students in Melbourne, increased
use of social media to share information on study locations and the ineptitude with
which some host institutions and governments have sought to allay student fears.
Practitioners have engaged in a range of activities designed to diminish international
student concerns about safety and this response has commonly involved the promotion
of social integration. But, in international student safety research field, no studies have
provided sufficient evidence to warrant the confidence that these strategies will be effect-
ive and most studies have ignored the effect of social disorder on triggering feelings of
being unsafe and fear of being victimised by crime as suggested by criminologists.
Phenomena associated with fear of crime have been widely investigated utilizing
survey data from the general population. As a consequence, a number of key determin-
ants have been identified, including socio-demographics, prior victimisation experiences,
physical or social disorder and social integration. However, studies on international
students’ levels of fear of crime and factors influencing their fears are highly under-
represented and this situation is problematic, given that in many ways students who
study outside their homeland are a unique population. Drawing on a survey of inter-
national students residing in Melbourne and on criminology literature that has accumu-
lated over decades, this paper addresses the foregoing omission by: (1) identifying which
subgroups of international students are most likely to experience victimisation and who
are most fearful of crime; (2) clarifying the ways in which social disorder and social
integration impact on fear of crime and by (3) determining what factors inflate the
association between experience of racism and fear of crime. The study defines inter-
national students as citizens of another country who held a valid student visa and
were currently undertaking undergraduate or postgraduate programs either full time
or part time at either government or private institutions at the time of survey period.
Studies of international students’ safety and fear of crime
Studies of international students’ safety and fear of crime appear to be highly under-
represented. Sundeen (1984) pioneered this area of research and found that international
students studying in the US tend to be highly fearful of being victimised when arriving,
but this concern diminishes over time. However, to his surprise, Sundeen (1984, p. 11)
found that participation in ‘cultural groups and activities increases feelings of fear, i.e.,
the greater the participation, the greater the feeling of being very unsafe’ as social events
‘serve as a place where information concerning crime, including anecdotes and rumours,
is exchanged’. Sundeen’s contribution was path blazing, but has not been accorded
78 Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 50(1)
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