Fear of crime

Relevance

Anxiety and worries about victimisation detract from wellbeing, and may cause people to alter their behaviour to avoid being victimised. This limits people’s options and can reduce their freedom.

Current level

In 2005, 40 per cent of New Zealanders said that fear of crime had a moderate or high impact on their quality of life, scoring its effect at 4 or higher on a 0–10 scale. A third (33 per cent) scored its effect at 4–7, while 7 per cent scored it at 8–10. People who had been a victim of any crime were more likely than average to report that fear of crime affected their quality of life.

Age and sex differences

Women were more likely than men to report that fear of crime had a moderate or high impact on their quality of life, with 45 per cent of females and 34 per cent of males scoring its effect at 4 or above on the impact scale. Thirty-seven per cent of females and 28 per cent of males reported a moderate impact (scoring it at 4–7), while 8 per cent of females and 6 per cent of males reported a high impact on their quality of life (scoring it at 8–10).

People aged 25–39 years were the most likely to report that fear of crime affected their quality of life, while people aged 60 years and over were the least likely to do so. In all age groups, women were more likely than men to say fear of crime had an impact on their quality of life.

Table SS3.1 Proportion (%) of the population aged 15 years and over who reported that fear of crime had a moderate or high impact on their quality of life, by age and sex, 2005

Source: Mayhew and Reilly (2007a) Table B21
Note: Combined scores may not add up because of rounding

Ethnic differences

At 60 per cent, Asian people were far more likely than other ethnic groups to report that fear of crime affected their quality of life, either moderately or a great deal. Europeans were the least likely to do so (36 per cent), while Māori and Pacific peoples fell in the middle of the range, at 47 per cent. Asians also had the largest proportion of any group rating the impact of fear of crime on their quality of life as high (18 per cent). In each ethnic group, women were more likely than men to report that fear of crime affected their quality of life.

Table SS3.2 Proportion (%) of the population aged 15 years and over who reported that fear of crime had a moderate or high impact on their quality of life, by ethnic group, 2005

Source: Mayhew and Reilly (2007a) Table B21
Note: Combined scores may not add up because of rounding

Socio-economic differences

People living in the most deprived areas of New Zealand were much more likely to report that fear of crime affected their quality of life (49 per cent) than those living in the least deprived areas (33 per cent). People in deprived areas were more than twice as likely as those in the least deprived areas to score the effect of fear of crime on their quality of life at the high end of the scale (11 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively).

Differences by household composition

Among households, sole parents living with their children had the highest proportion reporting that fear of crime affected their quality of life (46 per cent), followed by couples with children (44 per cent). People living alone (38 per cent) and couples without children (34 per cent) were less likely than average to say fear of crime affected their quality of life.

Figure SS3.1 Groups whose quality of life is highly affected (score of 8–10) by fear of crime, 2005

Source: Mayhew and Reilly (2007a) Table B21

» View technical details about the fear of crime indicator