Pregled najnovejših študij o strahu pred kriminaliteto : diplomsko delo univerzitetnega študija

Strah pred kriminaliteto, ali bolje rečeno človekovo dojemanje varnosti, ni preprost pojav, saj dejansko predstavlja večji problem v vsakdanjem življenju ljudi kot kriminaliteta sama. Cilj številnih dosedanjih projektov in študij ni zmanjšati zgolj kriminaliteto, ampak tudi strah pred kriminaliteto. To je večplasten problem, za katerega ne obstaja jasna definicija, pri posamezniku pa povzroča občutke strahu, tesnobe, ranljivosti, skrbi, negotovosti ter različno dojemanje varnosti in tveganja pred kriminaliteto. V diplomski nalogi smo želeli predstaviti vrste in uporabo najrazličnejših metod ter načinov merjenja strahu pred kriminaliteto. Pri tem smo si pomagali z najnovejšimi študijami opravljenimi v Sloveniji ter v tujini. Želeli smo ugotoviti, s katerimi metodami pridemo do boljših in kakovostnejših rezultatov ter kako se ti razlikujejo od podobnih raziskav opravljenih v preteklosti. Zanimalo nas je, ali ankentiranci resnično občutijo strah pred kriminaliteto kot tak, ali gre le za različno dojemanje varnosti. S primerjavo rezultatov, pridobljenih v podobnih anketah pred nekaj leti, smo prišli tudi do ugotovitev, ki so nam pomagale odgovoriti na vprašanje, ali so rezultati posledica različnega postavljanja vprašanj v anketah. S pregledom orodij in metod, ki se uporabljajo v raziskavah za merjenje strahu pred kriminaliteto, smo ugotovili, da so lahko ta orodja in metode zaradi slabega načrtovanja in izvajanja veliko manj učinovite, kakor bi lahko v resnici bile. Težava nastane tudi pri tem, da orodja ne obravnavajo več pomembnih vprašanj, ki bi bile ocenjevalcem in oblikovalcem v pomoč pri oblikovanju političnih vprašanj v zvezi s strahom pred kriminaliteto. Ta vprašanja naj bi vsebovala razširjenost, pogostost in resnost dogodkov, ki zbujajo strah pred kriminaliteto. Tako bomo posvetili del dizertacije tudi alternativnim vprašanjem ter strukturi vprašanj, ki merijo razširjenost, pogostost in resnost prestrašenih epizod.Fear of crime, or rather a person’s perception of safety is not a simple phenomenon, as it represents a bigger issue in people’s everyday life than criminality itself. The purpose of many projects and studies that have been carried out is not to reduce only crime, but also fear of crime. There is no fixed definition for the latter multilayered problem, which causes fear, anxiety, vulnerability, worry, uncertainty as well as mixed feelings about safety and risk of crime. The aim of this dissertation is to introduce various methods of evaluating fear of crime and their applicability, whereby taking into account the most recent Slovenian and foreign studies on the topic. Within those studies, we looked for the answers to following questions: which methods give the best and most quality results, and how do these methods differ from those used in past studies? Do the examinees really sense a fear for crime as such, or do various results account to various perceptions of safety? Comparing the results of similar past inquiries helped us answer the question, whether different results from inquiries are a consequence to different questions being asked. By examining the tools and methods used to measure fear of crime within the researches, we found that both are potentially less efficient than they could have been on account of poor planning and execution of the researches. The problem also involves the fact that tools don’t include several important questions, which would help the examiners form political questions about fear of crime. Those questions would refer to range, frequency and severity of criminal acts, which trigger fear of crime. Because of this, a part of this dissertation deals with alternative questions, as well as the structure of questions, which evaluate range, frequency and severity of the sensation of fear