Fear of crime, civil liberties, and tolerance of the use of technological anti-crime devices : will a fearful public exchange civil liberties for safety?

Keywords

Civil rights; Crime -- Public opinion; Crime prevention -- Citizen participation; Fear of crime; Toleration

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which tolerance of government use of technological anti-crime devices (T ADs) is affected by fear of crime, civil libertarianism, and other factors such as technophobia and demographic characteristics. Social exchange theory provided the theoretical :framework for the study. The literature on fear of crime, civil liberties, and technological anti-crime devices was reviewed. Data was collected via surveys completed by 161 randomly selected adults living in Florida. The survey included questions regarding participants' tolerance of the use of technological anti-crime devices, fear of crime, civil libertarianism, source of crime information, conservatism, victimization, technophobia, and demographic characteristics. Bivariate testing revealed statistically significant associations between tolerance of the use of TADs and fear 0f crime, civil libertarianism, technophobia, age, race, education, conservatism, victimization, and gender. Regression analysis revealed that fear of crime, civil libertarianism, and gender significantly predicted tolerance of the use of TADs. Fear of crime had a significant, albeit moderate, positive relationship with tolerance of the use of TADs. Civil libertarianism had a significant, strong negative relationship with tolerance of the use of TADs. Gender had a significant positive, moderate relationship with tolerance of the use of TADs. The result of these relationships is that as fear of crime increases so does tolerance of police use of TADs. Also, the greater people's sense of civil libertarianism, the less tolerant they are of law enforcement's use of TADs. Additionally, men are more tolerant than women of police use of TADs. Recommendations for future research included an examination of the differences between people's fear of domestic crime versus terrorist crime, and the effect these types of fear have on people's tolerance of the use of technological anti-crime devices. In addition, there is a call for research that will determine if people are more tolerant of TADs to fight domestic crime or terrorism.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2003

Advisor

Applegate, Brandon K.

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Health and Public Affairs

Department

Public Affairs

Format

PDF

Pages

165 p.

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0029096

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Health and Public Affairs; Health and Public Affairs -- Dissertations, Academic

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