FCHS (DCPC) - Artigos em Revistas Científicas Internacionais com Arbitragem Científica
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- Campus Criminal Victimization among Higher Education Students: A Diagnosis of Local Security in PortoPublication . Sani, Ana; Nunes, Laura M.; Azevedo, Vanessa; Sousa, Hélder FernandoThis study addressed and characterized direct and indirect criminal victimization among college students and examined the associations between victimization and other variables. The participants were 775 students of both genders with a mean age of 21.76 years. Data were collected through self-reports using the “Diagnosis of Local Security Questionnaire”. Overall, 8.6% of the students reported direct victimization, and 39.7% reported indirect victimization. The most reported crimes were robbery and theft, while the least prevalent were sexual offense, domestic violence, and fraud. Most incidents involved a stranger and occurred at night in the street. Direct victimization was associated with gender, age, marital status, student level, attendance status, and institution domain. There were significant associations between indirect victimization and nationality, student type, attendance status, and institution domain. The perception of (in)security was significantly associated with victimization. Therefore, physical and social measures are necessary to reduce crime and increase security.
- Direct and indirect victims of urban crime in the historic centre of Porto (Portugal): prevalence, dynamics and associated variablesPublication . Azevedo, Vanessa; Sani, Ana Isabel; Paulo, Daniela; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Nunes, Laura M.This study aims to quantify and characterize direct and indirect victimization and to analyse the associations between victimization and sociodemographic, criminal and environmental, social control and community variables in the urban area of the Historic Centre of Porto (hcp), Portugal. A total of 554 participants answered the “Diagnosis of Local Security Questionnaire” through face-to-face inquiry. The overall prevalence of victimization was 38.11%, with 17.7% being direct victims and 29.0% indirect victims. The most reported crimes were robbery, theft and offenses to physical integrity, which occurred mainly at night, on the street. The majority of victims sought police support, but satisfaction level with the authorities was low. Sociodemographic, criminal and environmental variables were associated with (in)direct victimization.
- Do you feel safe in the urban space? From perceptions to associated variablesPublication . Azevedo, Vanessa; Sani, Ana Isabel; Nunes, Laura M.; Paulo, DanielaThis study aims to provide answers to the following questions: Do you feel safe at Historic Centre of Porto (HCP)? Do you think that crime is increasing? What are the most and less frequent crimes? And the most feared crimes? What conditions promote criminal occurrences? What incivilities occur at HCP? What measures can be taken to increase security? What variables are related to the perception of insecurity? Through the application of the Diagnosis of Local Security Questionnaire, 554 participants that attended HCP were assessed (58.5% women, mean age = 43.82). One in five participants reported feelings of insecurity due to the presence of crime/danger. Robbery, theft, and drugs traffic were perceived as the most common crimes; participants were especially fearful about robbery and theft. Nationality, education, criminal variables, adequacy and satisfaction with policing, seek for formal support, and years living/studying/working at HCP were variables related to perception of (in)security.
- Is campus a place of (in)security and crime? perceptions and predictors among higher education studentsPublication . Azevedo, Vanessa; Nunes, Laura M.; Sani, Ana IsabelThis paper addresses subjective insecurity, namely perceptions of (in)security and criminal variables on campus among Portuguese higher education students. Additionally, predictors of perceptions of (in)security and gender differences were also examined. The participants were 775 students and data were collected through the “Diagnosis of Local Security Questionnaire”. Robbery, physical assault, theft, and sexual offenses were the most feared crimes. Additionally, robbery, theft, and public property damage were perceived as the most common on campus. Alcohol/drug consumption and juvenile conflicts/delinquency were the main reasons justifying criminal occurrences. Sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, education, and years of campus attendance, as well as criminal variables (e.g., perceived trend of crime, criminal occurrences, and crime promoters) predicted perceptions of (in)security. Females reported more fear than males of robbery, sexual offenses, physical aggression, and domestic violence. Therefore, preventive measures, including in the social domain and physical spaces, are mandatory to reduce violence on campus.
- Looking at crime-communities and physical spaces: a curated datasetPublication . Azevedo, Vanessa; Maia, Rui Leandro; Guerreiro, Maria João; Oliveira, Gisela; Sani, Ana Isabel; Caridade, Sónia; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Estrada, Rui; Paulo, Daniela; Magalhães, Mariana; Nunes, Laura M.This article describes a curated dataset entitled “Looking at Crime: Communities and Physical Spaces”, which comprises data from different sources, namely Diagnosis of Local Security (DLS), Diagnosis of School Environment (DSE) and observation of physical spaces. The main topic covered was crime and related variables at the Historic Centre of Porto (HCP), a well-known urban area located in the North of Portugal. It is currently attended by inhabitants, workers, students and tourists. This dataset includes i) data from two different self-reports: i.1) demographics, perception of (in)security, victimization, social control and community cohesion obtained through an inquiry applied to the adult community; and i.2) data from school climate and students behavioural problems, which may be seen as risk factors for juvenile delinquency, collected through a web-survey applied to school personnel; and ii) data from observation of physical spaces, attending to the Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles. The dataset allows descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, being useful for students, academics, stakeholders, police forces and policy-makers, to better understand crime and its related variables, forecast criminal incidents, and further develop associated preventive and intervention programmes.
- Mapping CPTED parameters with the LookCrim applicationPublication . Sani, Ana Isabel; Gouveia, Feliz Ribeiro; Guerreiro, Maria João; Azevedo, Vanessa; Santos, Hugo; Nunes, Laura M.Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is a multi-disciplinary approach to deterring criminal behavior through environmental design. CPTED strategies rely upon the influence on offender decisions that precede criminal acts by affecting the built, social, and administrative environment. We introduce an innovative technological tool, the LookCrim application, based on CPTED’s principles, to assess characteristics of specific physical spaces. This article describes the developed web platform and mobile app tools and their functional overview and explores some opportunities and challenges, such as the integration in smart cities, and ethical and legal issues. The LookCrim application gathers geo-tagged information enriched with CPTED characteristics—natural surveillance, natural access control, territorial reinforcement and maintenance, organized by categories defined by the European Committee for Standardization. The LookCrim application may be useful for organized data acquisition on urban spaces to develop empirical studies that will support environmental urban design decisions.
- Predicting frequent and feared crime typologies: individual and social/environmental variables, and incivilitiesPublication . Caridade, Sónia; Magalhães, Mariana; Azevedo, Vanessa; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Maia, Rui Leandro; Estrada, Rui; Sani, Ana Isabel; Nunes, Laura M.The lack of organisation in urban spaces plays a decisive role in the level of integration, communication and social bonds of the residents, impacting the citizens’ feelings of trust and security. Different personal variables and contextual characteristics have been associated with the fear of crime (FOC). The main objective of this study is to analyse how individual and social/environmental variables, and incivilities, predict crime against people and property, crime that has either happened or is feared to happen. Five hundred and fifty-four residents (M = 43.82; SD = 18.38) in the Historic Centre of Porto (HCP), Portugal, answered 61 items of the Diagnosis of Local Security (DLS) Questionnaire. The results of this study show that in the most frequent crime category, 72% of occurrences represent crime against property. In the feared crime category, there is a preponderance of crime against people (61%). Age of the respondents predicted the most frequent and feared crime, while sex predicted the most feared crime only. Social/environmental variables, as well as incivilities, also predict the frequent and feared crime in two typologies, i.e., crime against people and crime against property. Practical implications to reduce FOC and areas for further investigation are discussed.
- Satisfaction with the police: perceptions and related variables from an urban community samplePublication . Sani, Ana Isabel; Azevedo, Vanessa; Paulo, Daniela; Magalhães, Mariana; Nunes, Laura M.This quantitative, correlational, and transversal study was performed with a sample of 482 participants from an urban community at the Historic Centre of Porto (HCP). Participants answered to an enquiry designed to collect information about (dis)satisfaction with the police and its performance, with sociodemographic, victimisation, criminal, environmental, social control, and community variables as potential predictors. Findings revealed that the community was mainly satisfied with the police in its efforts to guarantee security, and there was no relationship between those variables, and sociodemographic and some community variables (e.g., years at the HCP, willingness to collaborate in security measures, and strength of attachment to HCP). On the other hand, there were relationships of (dis)satisfaction with the police and being the victim of crime, and some criminal and environmental variables (e.g., perception of increased criminality, conditions promoting crime, and incivilities). Regression analyses found that the perception of increased criminality and the need to adopt improvement measures were significant predictors of dissatisfaction with the police. This study promotes further discussion on factors that can be improved to increase satisfaction with the police and the connection of community–institutions to promote community security.
- School climate and students’ disruptive behavior: perceptions of school professionalsPublication . Azevedo, Vanessa; Caridade, Sónia; Dinis, Maria Alzira Pimenta; Nunes, Laura M.; Sani, Ana IsabelSchool climate (SC) reflects the culture and norms of the school community, being a potential factor linked to students’ disruptive behavior (DB). This study intended to characterize the Portuguese school professionals’ perception on SC, analyzing the connections to the students’ DB. Another objective was to explore the differences on SC based on the functions of school professionals and school geographic location. An exploratory study with 333 school professionals was carried out. Concerning SC, the participants were asked about environmental-structural and relationships, while absenteeism, behavior problems, and incivilities were included in the students’ DB. Overall, the participants generally reported positive perceptions about SC. Differences were observed on DB, based on SC ratings. The participants rating poorer environmental-structural and relationships tended to report more DB. SC differed according to the school geographic location and to functions of school professionals. Additional research about the implications of SC on students’ DB is needed to develop preventive strategies.
- Temporal variability of theft types in the historic centre of PortoPublication . Azevedo, Vanessa; Magalhães, Mariana; Paulo, Daniela; Maia, Rui Leandro; Oliveira, Gisela; Guerreiro, Maria João; Sani, Ana; Nunes, Laura M.Criminology theories imply that time is a relevant variable, especially for the prevention and intervention of criminal occurrences. Thus, the study of criminal temporal patterns has been described as being of great relevance. The present study focuses on describing and exploring the influence of temporal and seasonal variables on the occurrence of different types of theft in the Historic Centre of Porto through the analysis of official records of the Public Security Police. Significant differences were found regarding the time of day and season of occurrence, even though it is not observed for all the types of theft analysed. Overall, theft was more prevalent at night and less frequent during winter, which is congruent with previous literature and the routine activity theory. Being the first case study in Porto city, Portugal, this research may be of extreme importance for both designing prevention and intervention policies in the area, and for inspiring future research on a criminal time analysis.