Bogotá

Más Crimen?, ¿más Miedo

Bibliographic Data

ID6166985
AuthorsRestrepo Elvira María (Universidad de los Andes), Moreno Álvaro José (Universidad de los Andes)
Year2007
Issue59
Pages165-214
Publication date2007-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRevista Desarrollo y Sociedad (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0120-3584 • E-ISSN: 1900-7760
PublisherUniversidad de los Andes (PUBLISHER • VE)
DOI10.13043/dys.59.5
OpenAlexW2150211014
LanguageHU
Citations received2
References cited15

The perception of security related to crime is not always tied to the individual level of victimization or the real risk of crime, but rather to the fear of crime. To investigate this, we carried out a survey among the community at Universidad de los Andes. We found that the fear of crime is more decisive than the actual victimization in terms of shaping people’s perception of security during Bogotá’s current administration (i.e., Garzón) as compared to its three former administrations (i.e., Mockus-Peñalosa-Mockus). This becomes even more surprising if one takes into account the fact that Bogotá has experienced a decrease in most high social-impact crimes, according to official data, yet the survey reveals that still one third of those surveyed feel worst under Garzón’s administration as compared to the three former ones. We show that the perception of security in public spaces, and on public transport, is determined by factors which are related more to the fear of crime than to the level of subjective victimization (understood as that of the surveyed and his/her kin). This paper also corroborates widely held beliefs that surround the fear-of-crime literature, such as the attitude towards crime risk among the young, and the higher perception of safety that men feel as compared to women

Art · Humanities · Political science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access