Majority of Americans say crime a serious problem nationally

Nearly 40 percent of Americans polled recently by Gallup stated there is an area within a mile of their home where they do not feel safe walking alone at night. The recently released Gallup survey also showed 68 percent of Americans perceive that crime has worsened in the country during the past year.

The Gallup respondents indicated they felt better about local crime, with 48 percent saying they think crime worsened in their own community during the last 12 months.

Respondents to this survey felt most secure in 2001, when only 30 percent of said they felt unsafe in their own neighborhoods. Gallup surmised this number could be explained by diminished fears of conventional crimes in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In the latest poll, 54 percent of respondents described the crime problem in the United States as extremely or very serious, which was about the same as the roughly 55 percent who gave this answer in 2010.

While Gallup stated that actual rates of serious crimes have declined steadily since the mid-1990s, the results of the perceptions survey reflected the fluctuations in crime rates for different areas around the country, which rise and fall. For example, 15 Los Angeles neighborhoods recently experienced a surge in violent and property crimes, the L.A. Times reported.

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