Fear of Crimes among the People in the Southern Border of Thailand

Abstract

This research is part of the 2016 National Fear of Crime Survey, where the authors analyze the data specific to the areas in the responsibility of the Southern Border Provinces Police Operation Center with a focus on two objectives, including (1) to study the level of fear for crimes among the people in the area and (2) to study the factors associated with such level of fear. The data are collected from 400 samples comprising people in the Southern border provinces during the month of January 2017 by way of questionnaire. The statistical analysis addresses the frequency, the percentage, the mean, the standard deviation, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis, with the 5-percent significance level. The results show that overall the people’s level of fear for crimes is moderate (average 4.51 out of 10). Above all, the fear for future crimes (in the year 2017) appears greater than the past year (the year 2016) by about 4.74 percent. The level of fear is correlated with gender, religion, marital status, area of residence, occupation, income, physical and mental strengths, social network in the neighborhood, disorder in the neighborhood, awareness of risks of facing crimes, and experience of crimes among the residents in the area.