Abstract

Women fear crime more than men (Cops and Pleysier, 2011), have heightened awareness of everyday risks particularly of sexual and physical danger (Stanko, 1990), and they engage in more constrained behaviours than men (Rader, May and Goodrum, 2007; Tomsich, Gover and Jennings, 2011). Little research had examined the adoption of such risk management strategies and the impact of gender (May, Rader, and Goodrum, 2010), in an English context. However, focusing on the most at risk age-group for criminal victimisation, 393 students completed an online survey, which was designed to assess whether gender effected the strategies they adopted to prevent victimisation of both acquisitive and personal crimes, on-campus, and to stay-safe. The findings indicate females are more likely to adopt risk-management strategies to prevent personal sexual attack during the day and after dark, compared to males. Females also adopt additional strategies after dark to stay-safe. The implications of the findings to convey accurate messages about risks of victimisation are discussed.