The forced migration of individuals and groups in the world has increased substantially amid extensive regional and international conflicts. A prime example is the continuing civil war in Syria, during which Turkey has become the host country for more Syrian refugees than any other country in the region. Research on fear of crime has focused mainly on fear of crime in general rather than on fear of crime being committed by specific groups of individuals with a shared identity. The current study used survey data to investigate the extent to which the general crime fear among Turkish citizens differs from their fear that Syrian refugees in the country may commit a crime. Consistent with theoretical assumptions of subgroup threats, the overall results of the study show that Turkish citizens’ relational discomfort with Syrians, their perception that Syrian refugees pose a security threat, and their encounters with Syrian refugees in their neighborhoods are significantly associated with the manifestation of fear of general and group-specific crime. Fear of both types of crime was higher among females, which is consistent with previous research; however, contrary to previous research, young people rather than elderly people were more fearful of crime.

在广泛的区域和国际冲突中，世界上个人和团体的被迫迁移大大增加了。一个典型的例子是叙利亚持续的内战，在此期间，土耳其成为该地区任何其他国家收容更多叙利亚难民的东道国。关于对犯罪的恐惧的研究主要集中在一般的对犯罪的恐惧上，而不是对由具有共同身份的特定人群实施的犯罪的恐惧。当前的研究使用调查数据来调查土耳其公民对一般犯罪的恐惧程度与他们对该国的叙利亚难民可能犯罪的恐惧有所不同。这项研究的总体结果与亚组威胁的理论假设相符，表明土耳其公民对叙利亚人的关系感到不适，他们对叙利亚难民构成安全威胁的认识，以及他们在附近与叙利亚难民的相遇，与对一般犯罪和针对特定群体的犯罪的恐惧的表现密切相关。女性对这两种类型犯罪的恐惧更高，这与以前的研究一致。但是，与以前的研究相反，年轻人而不是老年人更害怕犯罪。