on will also affect crime rates. A lack of common experience in a crowded but transient populace makes the organization of citizen crime prevention efforts more difficult. Rootlessness or mobility may also be a factor leading to criminality. The rising trend in illegitimate births and divorces over the last three decades also point to weaker family ties than in the past.
All these factors increase victimization rates. However, according to crime surveys, although most people view their own chances of being victimized as strong possibility, they still perceived rising crime as a national, rather than as a neighborhood problem. In addition, regardless of age, sex, race, and income group, whether or not one has been the victim of crime during the past year does not appear to have a major effect on the fear of crime. Furthermore, people tend to feel less threatened close to home than in other neighborhoods. There is also a strong tendency for people to believe that the fear of crime affects other people more than it affects them (Garofalo, 1977, p. 11).
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