First Advisor

McGrath, Jack

Thesis Committee Member(s)

McGrath, Jack

College

College for Professional Studies

Degree Name

MS Criminology

School

School of Humanities & Social Sciences

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

62 pages

Abstract

This research project looks at the 'fear of crime' as a concept that is valuable to law enforcement agencies, politicians, and the public. By examining past research, it can be concluded that 'fear of crime' is often studied through the use of victimization surveys despite methodology complications. 'Fear of crime' is studied quantitatively in this project in relation to media articles from The Denver Post from 2008-2010. By performing a longitudinal case study on these incidents, comparing past qualitative research on factors relating to 'fear of crime', and using content analysis of news articles, this study examined which factor if any influenced the 'fear of crime' in downtown Denver during this time period. The results of this study indicated that there is an over-representation of violent crime and 'Crime Against Persons' in the media for this three year period. While it appears that media representation had no discernible among 'fear of crime' results over the three year period, it does appear that this can be explained by social disorganization and disorder theory.

Date of Award

Summer 2012

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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