Fear factor: perceptions of safety in South Africa

This chapter begins by briefly and critically reflecting on the limitations associated with measuring fear of crime and describing the data and principal measures available for the analysis. It then focuses on charting the evolution of fear of crime at the national level since the early 1990s. This is followed by an attempt to discern significant demographic, social and spatial differentials in these perceptions and, by so doing, make a modest contribution to the evidence base about the nature of fear of crime in the country.