The Incidence and Fear of Transit Crime: A Review of the Literature

Transit crime and the fear of transit crime are two of the more under researched areas in the field of crime prevention (Poinster, 1996; Newton, Johnson, & Bowers, 2004; Loukaitou-Sideris and Fink, 2009). This is the case with respect to both the actual incidence of crime along transit corridors (Newton, 2004) and the public’s perception of crime associated with transit usage (Yavus and Welch, 2009). There is a need to establish guidelines to best measure crime in public transit systems and identify the appropriate theoretical perspective(s) with which to do so (Transit Cooperative Research Program, 2001). Additionally, the fear of transit related crime experienced by the general public has a profound effect on citizens’ well being and their choice of transportation (Cozens, Neale, & Hillier, 2004; Loukaitou-Sideris and Fink, 2009).

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