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Regional Crime Rates and Fear of Crime: WISIND Findings

Author

Listed:
  • Mathias Bug
  • Martin Kroh
  • Kristina Meier

Abstract

Many people are afraid of falling prey to crime. The present report investigates the extent to which this fear is in line with the actual regional crime rates. This analysis is based on data from a comprehensive database on the fear of crime, combined with police crime statistics (specifically, adjusted crime statistics which factor in the "dark figure" of unreported crime). No evidence was found to support the (occasionally voiced) contention that the fear of falling prey to crime is irrational in many cases and not representative of the actual level of safety within a given region. In fact, our data shows a clear statistical correlation between regional crime rates and the fear of crime, both of which are more pronounced in the north of Germany than in the south, for instance. The inclusion of cybercrime in crime statistics, however, has meant that the former, higher crime rates and greater fear of crime often recordedin urban areas as opposed to rural regions are no longer as pronounced.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathias Bug & Martin Kroh & Kristina Meier, 2015. "Regional Crime Rates and Fear of Crime: WISIND Findings," DIW Economic Bulletin, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 5(12), pages 167-176.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwdeb:2015-12-1
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    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.498987.de/diw_econ_bull_2015-12-1.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Malte Sandner & Pia Wassmann, 2018. "The Effect of Changes in Border Regimes on Border Regions Crime Rates: Evidence from the Schengen Treaty," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(3), pages 482-506, August.
    2. Bortoletto, Gianluca, 2022. "The link between migratory background and crime perceptions. A repeated cross-sectional analysis with household data," MPRA Paper 112488, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Wassmann, Pia, 2016. "Do Open Borders Tempt a Saint? Evidence from Schengen on Crime Rates in German Border Regions," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145878, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Natascha Hainbach & Christoph Halbmeier & Timo Schmid & Carsten Schröder, 2019. "A Practical Guide for the Computation of Domain-Level Estimates with the Socio-Economic Panel (and Other Household Surveys)," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1055, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    5. Pia Wassmann, 2016. "Do open borders tempt a saint? Evidence from Schengen on crime rates in German border regions," ERSA conference papers ersa16p539, European Regional Science Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Security; crime; indicator; fear; fear of crime; home affairs; police; inner security; threat; crime statistics; police statistics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • R19 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Other
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • H79 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other
    • H80 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - General

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