Many Americans Fear Walking in Back Yards, Neighborhoods: DOJ Statistics

Are you constantly afraid of becoming a victim of crime? According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, countless Americans possess a very strong fear of crime. As will become evident by the statistics outlined here, the fear of crime is spread across different sexes, races, education levels and professions. During a recent study done by the DOJ, American subjects were asked whether they were fearful of walking through their neighborhoods unaccompanied at night. You may be quite astonished at the results. In fact, it was discovered that walking by oneself at night is the most prevalent fear across America.

First and foremost, recent statistics from the BOJS indicate that men feel less safe traveling by foot at night than women do. More specifically, over eighty percent of men reported feeling unsafe vs. only fifty percent of women. Statistics going all the way back to the mid 1970s show the same unusual phenomenon. Either men are overly fearful of their safety, or women are overly confident in theirs.

Amongst Caucasians, seventy percent feel at ease walking at night versus their black counterparts, for whom only sixty percent feel safe. Traditionally, numbers have indicated that Caucasians register about ten to twenty percent higher than African Americans. Of course, intuition would lead one to believe that the numbers were quite different during the racially intense periods between the 1950s and 1960s. Nonetheless, both races still contain a substantial number of people fearful of walking at night.

In regards to age and education, the level of fear remains very consistent. Regardless of education, only an average of thirty percent of those with any schooling are fearful of walking at night. Those amongst the ages of twenty through fifty reported feeling the least safe, whereas the least fearful are those in-between eighteen to twenty years of age. It is as they said, the young feel invincible, as if nothing can touch them.

As far as professionals, individuals working in administration were surprisingly less likely to be fearful at night. Only a little bit over fifty percent reported being afraid at night. Those in the manual labor / service sector registered at a whopping seventy-five percent.

These statistics clearly indicate a intense fear across America of merely walking in one's own backyard at night. Perhaps it is the scary images displayed in the media that drive us to such fear. Regardless, it is a long-standing condition that is unlikely to dissipate anytime soon.

"Crime and Neighborhoods", Bureau of Justice Statistics.