Situational fear of crime as a result of free association

Every interview started with the free associative section. This section had just one central question: Do you ever feel unsafe? This unspecific question actually led 28 of the 30 respondents to associate with five distinct mental maps: networks of characteristic elements of situations or locations that people were motivated to avoid, due to the perceived high risk of themselves falling victim of crime (Hale

KEEPING TROUBLE AT A SAFE DISTANCE

1996, Pleysier 2010). Five mental maps were extracted from the respondents’ free associative stories, but before discussing these mental maps in detail, we will first explore their background and shared characteristics.

The four information sources of mental maps

The mental maps portrayed by respondents share four information sources. The first source is the respondents’ socialisation (I):

R1: I used to travel on public transport a lot. So, I was regularly at a train station at night. There were always addicts and people who approached me. As a teenager my parents warned me about these kind of situations. No, I really did not like to be in stations at night-time.

|Native Dutch woman, 31-45 years|

Media messages about crime (II) and crime talk (III) also provide the respondents with information on specific features of the risk of crime:

R20: We always used to go to Amsterdam by public transport. But we don’t do that anymore. I don’t feel safe going there at night. I don’t want to run into the wrong person and get knocked down or something. I want to avoid that situation. That’s not only for Amsterdam, I would not go to Rotterdam or Utrecht either. Not anymore <SILENCE>…

I: What has changed?

R20: Well, look. I read my newspaper, check the news on Teletext, listen to the radio, so I know what’s going on. I don’t think: “That won’t happen to me”. It can happen to me <EMPHASIS>, so I don’t do that anymore. |Native Dutch man, 65+ years|

Some respondents’ mental maps were also shaped by previous events of victimisation (IV), either personal or the victimisation of family or acquaintances:

R17: … I walked in the station at night with my friend and there was a group of guys who had had too much to drink. So we walked away to go and wait at the buses, because more people were there. And they came after us and one of them grabbed my arm and said ‘Hey, come back to my place, we’ll have some fun’. That was kind of scary, as you have all these stories in the back of your head about what they could do. Luckily another person said that they should leave us alone and they went away. But that’s why I don’t like to travel by night anymore.|Western immigrant woman 18-30 years|

The shared characteristics of mental maps

All mental maps shared the characteristic of darkness:

R16: I think we grew up as kids with the idea that the dark is scary. When it’s dark, you go to sleep and that is when evil things and monsters come. I think that affects our idea of darkness

<SILENCE>. Well, I might relativise it now, but bad things do happen when it gets dark, because people do it then, because they think they will get away with it.

|Non-Western immigrant man, 31-45 years|

Also crucial in the mental maps is the element that the respondents imagine they are alone in the described situations:

R4: When I walk to my car after work, I have to pass by an alley and a block of houses and a flat.

And those are the moments I think ‘ugh’.

I: What is it you think about, then?

R4: Well, they could be everywhere. And as a woman you are the weaker sex, right?

|Native Dutch woman, 31-45 years|

The implicit or explicit assumption of being alone in a situation strongly connects respondents’ mental maps to the estimation of their vulnerability. The sense of being physically able to defend oneself came across as a protection against fear of crime, especially for men. When asked, ten men and four women said they thought

TALKING ABOUT ‘THE FEAR OF CRIME’

they could physically defend themselves if necessary. But despite their sense of being capable of physical defence, eight of these ten men and all four women still had clear ideas about risky situations or locations they would want to avoid, due to the high risk of crime:

R2: There are dark alleys here in the city where you will get robbed. In some deprived neighbourhoods and the centre of the city. They’ll hold you and take your wallet and phone and everything. |Western immigrant man, 46-65 years|

Mental map #1 – The big city

Twenty respondents said that big cities hold many crime risks. These respondents think there is almost an inevitability of falling victim of crime in a big city:

R23: That is a known fact, there is more crime in big cities.

|Native Dutch woman, 65+ years|

Eight of these twenty respondents actually live in a big city themselves. Only three of them said they had become accustomed to the continuous threat of crime in their city. Respondents were aware of two major types of crime risks in city life:

‘pickpockets and robbery’ and ‘violence and aggression’.

According to the respondents, the risk of pickpockets and robbery is omni-present in a big city, 24/7. The respondents are alert to this risk, especially when places are crowded with people, during events and markets for instance. The respondents outlined three stereotypes that trigger their alertness to the risk of theft and robbery: addicts, immigrants in general and, especially, immigrants from the Eastern bloc:

I: Do you ever feel unsafe?

R11: Well <SILENCE>… There are some places here in <NAME OF CITY> or <NAME OF OTHER CITY> <SILENCE>… It depends on the kind of people that are around, let’s say, that makes me watch their attitudes and how they look. That is what makes me think ‘OK, I have to pay attention or I have to be careful now’. |Native Dutch man, 18-30 years|

The second risk of ‘violence and aggression’ in the big cities is associated with urban nightlife. And here is how respondents understand this risk: because people use too much alcohol and drugs, tensions arise among them, and because

bystanders keep their distance, these tensions easily escalate into aggression and violence. The respondents outlined four stereotypes associated with the risk of violence and aggression: young people, groups of people in general, addicts and people who behave anti-socially.

Mental map #2 – Travelling after dark

The second most dense network of codes reflects the central message that when you travel alone after dark, you are always at risk of becoming a victim of crime.

Almost every female respondent (15 out of 16) had the idea that it is unsafe to travel alone after dark. Three elderly men - who held themselves to be vulnerable - also articulated this mental map. Two young men between 18 and 30 years old related this mental map too, but both of them were risk sensitive in general.

KEEPING TROUBLE AT A SAFE DISTANCE

R24: I used to travel a lot, even with public transport. I really liked it, it was kind of exiting to travel. But nowadays I really don’t like it anymore. I don’t go out when it’s dark. I’ll do that only when it’s light.

I: Only when it’s light?

R24: Yes, because when it’s light, I see everything. No, I don’t travel after dark anymore. Maybe if there was someone with me, because then you see and feel more <SILENCE>… But not alone

<DETERMINED>. I once stood at a bus station when it was dark and I really thought ‘Will that bus finally come now?’ <IMPATIENT>.|Native Dutch woman, 65+ years|

The respondents mainly contemplate the risk of victimisation through aggression and robbery. But some young women also think about the risk of sexual assault. As a result of this mental map, these respondents said they do not travel alone after dark, as a matter of principle:

R4: … I’m not looking for trouble. If I don’t have <EMPHASIS> to go out after dark, I won’t go. But if I have to go, you have to remember that there are some things that happen after dark

<SILENCE>… And that is when I feel my stomach and think: ‘Oeh, it’s quite dark’ <SILENCE>…

|Native Dutch woman, 31-45 years|

Respondents said they specifically avoided public transport, big cities and abandoned areas after dark. The stereotypes related to this mental map were addicts, immigrants, groups of people in general and, especially, groups of intoxicated young men. The respondents had no problem travelling after dark when accompanied by a protective person they were familiar with, such as their male partner or a male friend.

Mental map #3 - Wooded areas

Four women and one young man expressed an extension to the mental map

‘travelling alone after dark’, as they did not feel safe being alone in a wooded area after dark. The young man did not actually avoid wooded areas, but thoughts about a potentially lurking risk did cross his mind from time to time:

R11: I usually travel by bike alone in this area <respondent lives in the woods>. Even when it’s dark. The thought ‘what if there is someone hiding in the bushes?’ comes up sometimes. It’s very abandoned here in the forest. But, I’ll go anyway. When does something like that actually happen? Nah, it never happens. I cycle pretty fast, but when I think about this, I’ll just cycle a bit faster. |Native Dutch man, 18-30 years|

The four women said that they try to avoid abandoned and wooded areas like parks, forests and even green areas in their own neighbourhood. Women associate a specific fear of sexual assault with this mental map, respondents not liking the fact that they cannot see whether someone is hiding in their surroundings. A man could be hiding in the bushes, waiting to attack a female victim:

R1: I won’t go to a wooded area all by myself, no.

I: Not by yourself?

R1: Well, I experience more fear of violation and I would feel very alone and vulnerable. I think it comes from all the images you get from TV shows like <NAME OF A TRUE CRIME SHOW>. I’m very aware of those images. It is positive on the one side, as you can avoid those situations.

But on the other side, they give you a certain feeling of fear <SILENCE>…

|Native Dutch woman, 31-45 years|

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Mental map #4 – Using ATM machines

Four men and four women - most of them aged 46 and older – were on the alert when using an ATM machine, at night but also during the day-time:

R19: You hear about a lot of trouble from people who use an ATM machine without thinking. They try to see your Identification Number and also try to get your card and when they have it, they’re gone before you know it. |Native Dutch woman, 65+ years|

As a result, these respondents consciously look to see what kind of people are around and block any sight of their personal identification number. Sometimes they decide not to use the machine, until the suspicious people are no longer around, but they did not specify the people that would trigger their alertness.

Mental map #5 – Home alone after dark

The last mental map was reported by five women. Three of them were older than 65 years, one was between 31 and 45 years old and one between 18 and 30 years old. These women said they felt unsafe when home alone after dark. Without their male partner to protect them, a rather unspecific feeling of vulnerability arises. But they also relate a specific fear of burglary in this mental map. These women said they even take preventive measures when their partners are away at night:

R6: I have a big, heavy torch and my phone beside my bed when my husband isn’t home at night. That makes me feel better. Of course the gate and doors are locked, but if they want to break into our home, they will do it anyway <LAUGHS>.

|Western immigrant woman, 31-45 years|

Conclusion on free associative findings

When respondents freely associated in response to the question ‘Do you ever feel unsafe?’ they spontaneously started to talk about lived-through events in which they felt unsafe or imagined events in which they would feel unsafe. These ‘mental maps’ connect to the sub-concept of situational fear of crime. Despite individual nuances, the respondents told five quite similar stories, suggesting a broadly shared ‘lay knowledge’ about risky situations and locations.

In document Keeping trouble at a safe distance (pagina 117-121)