Local crime as a natural hazard: implications for understanding the relationship between disorder and fear of crime.

Local crime rates are similar in several respects to natural hazards. The points of similarity include objective and subjective features and responses to both. These comparable characteristics may help explain a continuing conundrum in the responses to disorder literature: the loose coupling between crime and fear levels at the local level. The proposed analogy may also be relevant to the relationship between local crime and behavioral responses to disorder. The points of analogy between crime and natural hazards lead to theoretical expectations supported by results from recent studies on responses to disorder. The perspective developed here helps explain why instrumental responses to crime elevate fear over time. We discuss the policy implications of the analogy, and suggest future areas of research and theoretical development.