Percepción de seguridad, victimización y cultura ciudadana: sus relaciones en cinco contextos iberoamericanos

Abstract

Criminal justice systems must offer a solution to the social issue of the fear of crime, due to its
possible repercussions in public areas, such as health, the economy and the interaction between
civilians and justice systems. Therefore, high levels of the fear of crime can influence social behavior
in public areas, and provide an excuse for the existence of private security services and private justice
systems, bearing in mind that alternative promises of security can threaten democracy. The aim
of this exploratory and correlational study is to show the levels of this fear, victimization and civic
culture in university students sampled from five Hispano-American countries: Argentina, Colombia,
El Salvador, Spain and Peru. Fear of crime levels and the perceived probability of victimization are
shown by country, and the relationships between these variables are analyzed. Also, it was found that
a higher level of civic culture is mainly associated with greater satisfaction with the police, a more
stable emotional climate, less fear of crime, and to a lesser extent, less personal victimization.