ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to review the dominant themes of the crime legends studied here, and to place these themes in the context of existing literature about crime, generalized social anxiety, and fear of crime. The dominant themes in these legends include: 1) a strong sense of social disintegration and the decline of civil society, 2) a sense of lost guardianship, and 3) comparatively high levels of organization and systematic activity among criminals and predators.
