THE DYNAMICS OF FEAR OF CRIME AMONG LGBT PEOPLE : A QUANTITATIVE INVESTIGATION

Sammanfattning: Fear of Crime remains a relevant theme in criminological research. Its associations include damage to psychological well-being, decreases in collective cohesion and trust, and populism. Located in the field of victimology, previous research found that significant predictors for Fear of Crime are: Previous Victimization, Previous Victimization with a Hate-Motive, Severity of Previous Victimization, Perceived Risk and Risk Control. This study will aim to investigate if the dynamics of Fear of Crime established by previous research are applicable in a LGBT population. Subsequently the sub-groups sexual minorities, bisexuals, and trans-people are compared, filling a literature gap. The sample consists of 353 self-identified LGBT people at Malmö University who filled out a self-report survey inquiring about previous victimization, fear of crime, perceived motives of previous victimization, perceived risk of victimization, and tactics to reduce risk of victimization. The predictors were entered into a block-wise multiple regression model as well as a path-analysis. Both Perceived Risk and Risk Control were entered after the other predictors. The results showed that Severity of Previous Victimization was significantly (p < .001) and positively (β = .267) predicting Fear of Crime. Additionally, Severity of Previous Victimization significantly (p < .01) and positively (β = .206) predicted Perceived Risk which in turn predicted (p < .001, β = .208) Fear of Crime. Risk Control did not have a statistically significant effect size (p > .05). In the sub-group comparison, Perceived Risk did not have a significant effect size (p > .05) among the trans-people. The study concludes that Severity of Previous Victimization both has a direct and indirect effect on Fear of Crime, in the LGBT population, but not among the trans-people sub-group, suggesting that future research as well as policy makers need to take such differences into account. Similar conclusions are drawn regarding Risk Control.