Nothing Bad Happens to Good Girls: Fear of Crime in Women's Lives

"The possibility of being a victim of a crime is ever present on my mind; thinking about it as natural as breathing."—40-year-old woman

This is a compelling analysis of how women in the United States perceive the threat of crime in their everyday lives and how that perception controls their behavior. Esther Madriz draws on focus groups and in-depth interviews to show the damage that fear can wreak on women of different ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. Although anxiety about crime affects ...