Studying fear of crime: from the field to the lab

11h45 à 12h30
Pavillon Lionel-Groulx, local C-2059
Carrefour des arts et des sciences
3150, rue Jean-Brillant

Aucune réservation requise

Speaker: Carla Cardoso
Carla Cardoso has a PhD in Biomedical Sciences (University of Porto). She is Assistant Professor and responsible for the Laboratory of Experimental Criminology at the School of Criminology, Faculty of Law, University of Porto. Her main research interests and publications are on experimental criminology, biosocial criminology, fear of crime, urban security and crime prevention.

 

Summary

In this presentation, perceptions of insecurity and fear of crime are addressed using different theoretical and methodological approaches.

Firstly it will be presented data (N=1,030 residents, year 2008) from a survey in Porto municipality, in which individual (e.g. gender, age, and employment status), contextual (e.g. perception of social and physical disorders; visibility and satisfaction with police work) and ecological variables (social cohesion, informal social control and place attachment) were included in order to understand fear of crime.

Secondly, it will be presented innovative laboratorial approaches (using eyetracking techniques) developed to explore the role of environmental elements and individuals’ attentional focus associated with (in)security perceptions. Finally, data from a qualitative study on experiences of fear of crime will be presented. At the end, it will be discussed further directions of these studies, and new ways to dissect fear of crime and subjective experiences of environment, in particular the importance and challenges in the use of mixed methodologies.