Dangerous Places and the Unpredictable Stranger: Constructions of Fear of Crime

Abstract

This article presents findings from a predominantly qualitative study on fear of crime among a group of Australians, using individual interviews and focus groups.The discussion focuses on the ways in which the partici-pants identified particular spatial and temporal dimensions of crime, and identifies the social groups and individuals upon which people projected their fear. Feelings of fear are dynamic and contextual, constantly subject to reassessment and change depending on such factors as the time of day or night, individuals' past experiences of crime, their familiarity and experi-ence with an area, the presence or absence of others in a particular location at a particular time, and circuits of localised knowledges. Feelings of uncertainty and loss of control were central to the identification of dangerous places and dangerous others.The participants' fear tended to be in relation to the figure of the 'unpredictable stranger' — someone who is Other to one's Self, an individual who does not share one's own approach to life, one's principles and sensibilities.