2011 Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 1-10
The present study examined physical features of environments that evoke fear of crime in a train terminal. Four walking routes through a whole terminal and its around were selected. Seventy-five participants were asked to walk through one of the routes and to rate their perceived fear of crime at the sites decided in advance. As for physical features, at each of the selected sites along the routes experimenters measured 1) sound level, 2) distances to surrounding structures, and 3) illumination intense, and judged whether the point had physical features affording 4) hiding for potential offenders, 5) escape for victim, and 6) potential guardians for victims. A multiple regression analysis showed that fear of crime was rated higher when participants were females, distances to surroundings were shorter, there were darker area around sites, or sites had hiding places, no escape, or no guardians. Although higher noise level also tended to evoke fear, this could be peculiar to this environment. To examine the sex differences in detail multiple regressions were conducted for male and female data separately, and the results showed no essential differences. Furthermore, multiple regressions adopting the means of individual rates at each of the sites as the dependent variable indicated the improvement in percentage accounted for by the regression models from the regression models adopting the individual data. This suggests the considerable effect of aggregate level and individual differences on results. Finally, implications of the results for stations/terminals and suggested future studies were discussed.
