Fear of crime among residents of three communities in Accra, Ghana

The current literature on fear of crime in Africa is limited because of the almost exclusive focus on the United States and other Western nations. In Ghana, very little is known about the extent of and the predictors of fear of crime. In this study, an initial attempt is made to assess the determinants of fear of crime at the community-level in Accra. A slightly modified version of the United States' National Criminal Victimization Survey (Community Policing Questionnaire supplement) was used to collect data from 208 residents in three communities. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses results show that gender, education, age, satisfaction with quality of life in community, type of community, and indirect victimization are significant predictors. However direct victimization, satisfaction with local police, and "incivilities" in the community are not significant predictors. The results from this study indicate the importance of both individual-level and community-level factors in understanding the fear of crime in the three communities.