Measuring Fear of Crime and Avoidance of Victimization in Virtual Reality Settings: A Systematic Review
Edoardo Cocco, Raphaële Arlettaz, Stefano Caneppele, Hervé Daudigny · Deviant Behavior · 2025
This review investigates the use of Virtual Reality and Immersive Virtual Environments to study Fear of Crime and avoidance behaviors linked to victimization risk. VR presents an opportunity to address challenges in the effective measure and operationalization of FoC by enabling real-time, immersive simulations that capture emotional responses and behaviors within controlled settings. Following SCIE guidelines and the PRISMA checklist, this systematic review identified 19 publications, highlighting the diverse methodologies employed to measure FoC in VR environments, and focusing on the introduction of novel indicators and metrics. These include surveys on situational fear, physiological measures, real-time behavioral data and enhanced contextual insights. By addressing some limitations of traditional surveys, VR methodologies could offer a more comprehensive understanding of FoC as it unfolds, capturing immediate reactions to environmental and social cues, including urban layouts, lighting conditions, and signs of (dis)order. This review underscores the potential of VR to redefine the study of FoC, providing actionable insights for urban planning, policy development, and crime prevention. It advocates for the standardization of VR-based methodologies to enhance comparability and suggests expanding the scope to explore under-researched areas such as guardianship and social dynamics.