ABSTRACT
Crime and security is one of the major priority areas of concern in the country and the Caribbean as a whole. Research undertaken over the last decade in Trinidad has shown that the proportion of citizens who are afraid of being victims of crime is substantially higher than the proportion of persons who are actual victims of violent crimes. Although fear of crime is not inherently negative, it is significant that excessive rumination, discourse, and concern about the possibility of being a victim of crime generate a number of social and psychological outcomes. Among these outcomes are anxiety, stress, stereotyping, prejudice, and social responses. Social responses include political debates and media hype which create a collective impact that negatively affect individual and community life. However, the disconnect between the crime reality (objective assessment) and perceptions of likelihood of victimization (subjective assessment) together with a number of social and psychological factors influence citizens’ fear of crime levels. Thus, this chapter draws on theoretical and empirical data on fear of victimization, police statistics, and past crime research findings to provide insights into the dynamics of citizens’ fear of crime in Trinidad.
