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11 J. Sch. Violence 1 (2012)

handle is hein.journals/wjsv11 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal of School Violence, 11:1 20, 2012 Routledge Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Group ISSN: 1538 8220 print/1538 8239 online DOI: 10.1080/15388220.2011.630309 The Relation Between Youth Fear and Avoidance of Crime in School and Academic Experiences KIMBERLY L. BARRETT, WESLEY G. JENNINGS, and MICHAEL J. LYNCH Department of Criminology, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA Despite decades of research analyzingfear of crime among adults, little is known about youtb fear of crime in general and youtb fear of crime in school, specfically. Moreover, among existing studies most emphasize causes of fear, with little discussion of avoid- ance or the academic consequences of thesefeelings and behaviors in school. 7his study contributed to the literature 4y exploring the relation between fear of crime and avoidance in school and academic experiences using data from the 200 7 National Crime Victimization SurvQy's School Crime Supplement. Results suggested that fear increases the odds a student will skip class, decreases the odds a student will earn higher grades, and decreases the odds a student will aspire to pursue higher education. However, fear and avoidance of crime in school did not emerge as having a signifi- cant relation with participation in extracurricular activities. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed. KEYWORDS fear of crime, avoidance, academic achievement, schools, victimization Received January 21, 2011; accepted October 1, 2011. Address correspondence to Wesley G. Jennings, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, Department of Criminology, SOC 326, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA. E mail: jenningswgj@usf.edu