Facilitators and Inhibitors of Fear of Crime Among Thai People

Abstract

Fear of crime is one of the most popular topics to which criminal justice scholars, police officers, and government workers have long paid attention. This study focuses on factors affecting fear of crime that have not often been examined in previous research, namely, police performance in crime suppression and crime prevention, and adds interaction terms in the same fear of-crime model.

Data from a country-wide survey on fear of crime in Thailand in 2010 were analyzed at two levels: individual and aggregate. At the individual level, the data were derived from 6,080 questionnaires, while aggregate level data were based on a sample of 76. A Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) was used to identify and statistically analyze the factors related to the fear of crime among Thai people.

The findings reveal that not only do facilitators of fear of crime show significant relationships with fear, but inhibitors of fear of crime and the interaction terms are also significantly related to fear. Implications derived from the findings as well as further research are also suggested.