ABSTRACT
Some commentators are convinced that the public's reaction to crime is largely justified. Two different explanations have been advanced to account for the sharp rise in public concern. Some critics have argued that the wave of anxiety is largely an irrational reaction to the rapid social change that has taken place during the past decade. In January of 1969 Life magazine commissioned the Louis Harris Organization to conduct a special survey of public reaction to crime in Baltimore. In addition to repeating relevant items from the Crime Commission studies, Richard Harris asked a number of questions deliberately designed to measure the level of fear in the population. Although undertaken primarily to measure the amount of victimization in the population, the studies included questions on public attitudes toward crime, some of which dealt specifically with the subject of fear. The results revealed that fear was most intense among residents of ghetto areas, especially low income blacks.
