ABSTRACT
This chapter characterizes the Chicago neighborhoods according to the level of "official" delinquency committed by residents in the area. Research teams in each city employed a variety of methods to observe and collect information about each of these neighborhoods. The chapter discusses the survey data to show how the several places, their parts, and their connections appear to affect community residents. It explores the comparative case study approach to look across communities to determine whether the contextual forces that it have hypothesized to be operating are in fact associated with the fear levels. The chapter looks at those variables traditionally associated with fear of crime: the criminal environment in each of the communities and the demographic characteristics of the individuals living within them. An initial step in searching for explanations for these differences must consider the variation in criminal activity and victimization experiences. The strong relationship between victimization experiences about a local crime victim and fear has been well documented.
