Vittimizzazione e senso di insicurezza nei confronti del crimine in Italia: un’analisi empirica sul caso italiano

In this paper the relationship between criminal victimization and people’s perception of safety is explored. At first sight, the connection between these phenomena seems to be obvious: victims of a crime are probably more unsafe than non victimized people. However, many studies have found that the relationship between fear and crime is more complex than expected. In the first part of the paper the mixed research results are discussed and some reasons of this heterogeneity are identified. In the second part an analysis is conducted on data from the Italian Survey on Citizens’ Safety (Indagine sulla sicurezza dei cittadini). The main findings indicate that victimization affects both feelings of safety in the streets and in one’s own home, but with different intensity. Theft and snatch victimization is associated with safety in the streets, whereas burglary victimization with the perception of safety in one’s own home. Multivariate binomial regression models show that in Italy previous victimization contributes to increase the probability of feeling unsafe both in the streets and in one’s own home, all else being equal.