Victimization experience does matter: Testing the effect of different types of victimization on fear of crime among adolescents
| Published date | 01 July 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14773708211053829 |
| Date | 01 July 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Victimization experience does
matter: Testing the effect of
different types of victimization
on fear of crime among
adolescents
Zuzana Podaná
Charles University, Czech Republic
Eva Krulichová
Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Abstract
The aim of the present study is to thoroughly examine the relationship between adolescent fear of
crime and a wide variety of offences which commonly affect children. The analysed data comes
from the Urban Youth Victimization Survey conducted among 9
th
grade students in the Czech
Republic. The results unequivocally demonstrate that victimization experience, when measured
properly, substantially affects adolescent fear of crime. All analysed types of victimization are
associated with fear of crime, though the strongest effects were found for cyber-victimization and
bullying rather than conventional violent and property crimes. Furthermore, a poly-victimization
scale was revealed to be a highly effective tool for capturing overall victimization by using a single
summary measure.
Keywords
adolescence, fear of crime, victimization, poly-victimization
Introduction
Since fear of crime has become an important topic in criminological research, a number of
studies have been devised to address the relationship between this phenomenon and
Corresponding author:
Eva Krulichová, Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Jilská 1, 110 00, Prague 1, Czech
Republic.
Email: eva.krulichova@soc.cas.cz
Article
European Journal of Criminology
2023, Vol. 20(4) 1529–1548
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/14773708211053829
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various individual and social factors. Initially, it was assumed that fear of crime is the
natural result of an individual’s real experience with crime. Victimization thus became
one of the most obvious predictors of fear of crime in earlier studies (e.g. Garofalo,
1979; Hale, 1996; Skogan, 1987). Further research, however, has shown that the relation-
ship between victimization and fear of crime is far from consistent, both in studies con-
ducted on adults (see e.g. Box et al., 1988; Chadee and Ditton, 2003; LaGrange et al.,
1992) and adolescents (e.g. Cops, 2010, 2013; Cops and Pleysier, 2011; May, 2001;
May et al., 2015; May and Dunaway, 2000; Schreck and Miller, 2003).
Drawing inspiration from Hale (1996), who attempted to summarize the reasonsbehind
the inconsistent relationship between victimization and fear of crime in adults, we have
identified three fundamental issues which contribute to the mixed findings of previous
research and which obscure this relationship in adolescents as well: the inadequacy of
employed victimization measures; inconsistencies in the measurement of fear of crime;
and differences in the variables controlled for in analysis. Whereas the latter two issues
are sometimes addressed in research (see e.g. Baron, 2011; May et al., 2002; Melde,
2009; Zani et al., 2001), the shortcomings posed by commonly employed victimization
measures are mostly overlooked. Capturing a child’s victimization experience is challen-
ging as it covers many diverse incidents which occur in different contexts and are perpe-
trated by different types of offenders (see e.g. Finkelhor et al., 2005). Nevertheless, the
victimization indicators used in the majority of studies on adolescent fear of crime are
very basic and generally only include a limited selection of conventional violent and/or
property offences (Cops, 2010; May, 2001; May et al., 2002). On the other hand, the
few studies that employ more sophisticated victimization measures have largely revealed
a strong association between victimization and adolescent fear of crime (De Groof,
2008; Swartz et al., 2011; Wallace and May, 2005).
We assume that victimization experience is likely to substantially impact the levels of
adolescent fear of crime. The prevalence of youth victimization is very high, multiple vic-
timization is frequent and the consequences of victimization can be severe (Cyr et al.,
2013; Finkelhor et al., 2011; Finkelhor et al., 2013; Turner et al., 2017). Moreover, chil-
dren have only limited autonomy as they are dependent on their caregivers and obliged to
attend school. Avoiding victimization might prove challenging as a result. Overall, chil-
dren are highly vulnerable and it is particularly their own experience with crime and anti-
social behaviour which can considerably increase their awareness of how vulnerable they
are to future victimization and, consequently, increase their fear of crime (Baron, 2011;
Melde, 2009). The main advantage of the present study is that it allows for a thorough
evaluation of the relationship between victimization experience and adolescent fear of
crime, as it considers a variety of offences which children are typically victimized by,
including bullying as well as victimization in cyberspace.
Inconsistent relationship between victimization
and fear of crime
The most notable outcome generated by previous research on the relationship between
personal victimization experience and fear of crime is the large variability of findings.
Although a number of studies among both adults and adolescents have pointed to a
1530 European Journal of Criminology 20(4)
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