GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
According to a Gallup poll conducted last month, Americans are slightly less fearful today than five years ago that they will themselves be victimized by major violent crimes. They also express more confidence in the ability of the police to protect the public. But while actual crime rates have fallen over the past several years – as is seen in the latest statistics released this week by the FBI – the poll shows that just as many people feel safer because of steps they have taken to protect themselves as those who feel safer because they believe there actually is less crime. Indeed, although this is the sixth straight year that a decline has been announced, a majority of people is not even aware that the crime rate has actually fallen in the United States.
In the poll, respondents were asked how frequently they worried about five different types of crime happening to them personally. For all five types, the number who say they worry "very" or "pretty" frequently is smaller today than it was in 1993. A 10-point drop in worry was found on two items: being attacked while driving a car, and someone in the family being sexually assaulted or raped. Today, 28% say they worry frequently about possible sexual assault or rape, compared with 38% five years ago. And 18% say they currently worry very or pretty frequently about being attacked while driving a car, compared with 28% who said this in 1993.Worrying about getting mugged is down by seven points, from 26% who worried about it very or pretty frequently in 1993, to 19% today. There are also modest drops in the worrying about being murdered – 14% today, down five points, and in the fear of having one’s home burglarized – 31% today, down four points from 1993.
At the same time that fear of specific crimes has declined, confidence in the police’s ability to protect the public from violent crime has increased. Today, a majority of the public – 55% – says it has a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the police, compared with 45% five years ago.
Despite these more positive feelings, just 35% of Americans say there is less crime in the United States than there was a year ago, while 52% think there is more. However, when it comes to the area where they, personally, live, the figures are almost reversed: Forty-eight percent say there has been a decline in crime in the past year, compared with just 31% who say there has been an increase. Thus, it would appear that the public’s more positive feelings reflect its perceptions of an improved climate in its own neighborhoods, rather than in the country as a whole.
Precautionary Steps Taken
It is perhaps ironic that, despite the lower levels of worry
expressed in the current survey compared to the 1993 survey, people
don’t necessarily remember being more afraid of crime when
they think back five years ago. Today, only 41% of Americans
remember feeling more threatened by crime five years ago than they
are today, while 47% remember feeling less threatened. These
perceptions contradict the poll results from 1993 and 1998, but it
is often the case that people think of the past with more positive
feelings than are warranted.
Those who say they feel less threatened today are evenly divided on the reason for their more positive feelings: Forty-five percent say it’s because they feel there is actually less crime, while 44% say it’s because of changes they have made in their lives to protect themselves from being victimized. These perceptions are highly related to age, however, with those over 50 saying they feel mostly safer because there has been an actual decline in crime, while those under 50 saying it’s mostly because they have taken precautionary steps.
Survey Methods
The results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly
selected national sample of 1,013 adults, 18 years and older,
conducted October 23-25, 1998. For results based on this sample,
one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error
attributable to sampling and other random effects could be as much
as plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling
error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting
surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public
opinion polls.
How often do you, yourself, worry about the following things -- Very frequently, pretty frequently, pretty seldom, or very seldom?
| 98 Oct 23-25 | 93 Oct 13-18 | |
|---|---|---|
| A. Getting murdered | ||
| Very frequently | 6% | 8% |
| Pretty frequently | 8 | 11 |
| Pretty seldom | 19 | 18 |
| Very seldom | 66 | 62 |
| No opinion | 1 | 1 |
| 100% | 100% | |