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Police communication programmes aimed at burglary victims: A review of studies and an experimental evaluation
Author(s) -
Winkel Frans Willem
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of community and applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1099-1298
pISSN - 1052-9284
DOI - 10.1002/casp.2450010404
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , fear of crime , crime prevention , orientation (vector space) , applied psychology , criminology , geometry , mathematics
The effects and side‐effects of a victim assistance project aimed at victims of burglary are experimentally evaluated. Key features of the programme included the provision of burglary prevention information by police officers during a personal interaction with the victim through a positive and limitative communication strategy. Results suggest that important programme goals (for example, stronger satisfaction with police performance, a more internal risk orientation concerning victimization, stronger preventive intentions) were met. One of the positive effects for which experimental support was found was an improvement in police‐victim relations. As regards side‐effects the programme led neither to response generalization, nor to increased fear of crime outside the home. However, the side‐effects of increased fear in the home did occur in female victims and victims with an external risk‐orientation. The implications for future victim assistance projects in this domain are finally discussed.