Fear of Crime - Measurement of Fear of Ordinary Crimes and Fear of Crimes in Cyberspace

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to assess the validity and reliability of a questionnaire proposed for measuring fear of crime. Following extensive theoretical research in the field, the questionnaire was operationalised and defines fear of crime in three components: cognitive, affective and behavioural. It extends the measurement of the traditional fear of crime in the physical environment to the fear of cybercrime. The data were collected from 207 citizens of the city of Ljubljana. Convergent and discriminant validity were assessed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was assessed by Cronbach alpha and by Composite reliability. The measurement instrument exhibited good measurement characteristics. All three components of fear of crime had two dimensions - ordinary and cybercrime. To date, no consensus on the instrument to be used to measure fear of crime has been reached by researchers. Several measures that are used pertain to ordinary crime only - they omit the fear of cybercrime, lack information on validity and reliability, and tend to measure just the affective component of fear of crime. The proposed questionnaire attempts to overcome these shortcomings.