40% of Americans dread walking alone at night; fear of being murdered nears record-high

The percentage of Americans afraid of taking an evening stroll alone in their own neighborhood has skyrocketed, reaching a three-decade high.

A new Gallup poll conducted last month found that 40% of 1,009 adult respondents fear walking alone at night within a mile of their homes. This was true of 53% of women and 26% of men.

Beside gender, another apparent correlate concerning fear was wealth. Whereas 49% of those making less than $40,000 admitted being fearful of ambling around at night, 39% of those making $40,000 to $99,999 and 31% of those banking over $100,000 expressed similar concern.

The last time dread was this high was in 1993 when America's violent crime rate was 741.1 (per 100,000 inhabitants). According to the FBI, the forcible rape rate for that year was 41.1; the robbery rate was 256; the aggravated assault rate was 440.5; the property crime rate was 4,740; the burglary rate was 1,099.7; the larceny-theft rate was 3,033.9; and the motor vehicle theft rate was 606.3.

The violent crime rate dropped precipitously to 380.7 in 2022 — a year where 47.7% of crimes took place at home and 20% took place on a street, highway, alley or sidewalk. 44% of perpetrators were white; 43% were black; 1.4% were American Indian or Alaska native; less than 1% were Asian; and nearly 10% were marked "unknown."

Fearful particulars

The latest Gallup poll revealed that falling prey to identity theft was the most common crime concern, with 72% of respondents indicating they frequently or occasionally worry about it.

50% indicated they worried about having their car broken into, which makes sense granted motor vehicle theft offenses jumped to a 13-year high in 2022. 44% said they worried about their home being burglarized when they were out and 37% expressed concern about getting mugged.

The fear of being murdered is at a near-record high. Morbid fears began to jump in 2020, rising from 17% that year to 29% in 2022. This year, 28% of American adults surveyed suggested they frequently or occasionally worried about becoming a murder victim.

The FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program put the murder rate at 6.3 per 100,000 people last year, just slightly lower than in 2021, which saw the highest rate in 23 years.

Bound by concern

For some Americans, it appears these fears can be greatly limiting and possibly even debilitating.

28% of all respondents indicated that fear of crime has prevented them from going to social events like concerts or fairs as well as from talking to strangers.

45% of women told pollsters that fear of crime prevents them from taking walks, jogging, or running alone near their homes. 36% indicated fear of crime precluded them from driving around various parts of their towns or cities.

Gallup also found that 63% of Americans say crime is an extremely or very serious problem — an increase of almost 10 points since 2021 and the highest it has been since the polling outfit began asking in 2000.

77% of Americans said there is more crime across the nation than there was a year ago, and 55% said the same about crime in their area.

These responses do not appear to be based simply on speculation.

17% of respondents indicated they were the victim of a crime over the past 12 months, which could mean anything from rape and assault to being mugged. 28% indicated a member of their household had been victimized.

There is a significant partisan skew to the perception of increased crime across the United States. 58% of Democrats said there was more crime this year than in 2022. 78% of independents and 92% of Republicans indicated there had been an increase.

The polling outfit noted that despite what the FBI data and Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization survey say, "Gallup trends indicate there has been an increase in crime victimization since 2020, according to Americans' reports of their own experiences in the past year."

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