The geography of fear and fear of crime in today's society has been extensively studied. In this essay, fear of crime is used in the context of an individual's perceived risk of becoming a victim of crime. This essay will explain Cater and Jones' claim and discuss how media representation, environmental incivility in urban areas leading to local people's loss of authority of space, and urban encroachment on rural areas shape the "geography of fear". These individual, neighborhood and community level factors will be assessed so that fear of crime in urban and rural areas can be reduced. “In its social and behavioral impact, fear of crime can be as powerful as victimization itself” (Cater and Jones, 1989: 104) refers to the geography of crime, best defined as “the relevance of space to the study of criminals, the incidence of crime and the characteristics of victims" (Smith, 1989). In terms of explaining Cater and Jones' statement, it means that it is not so much people's "real" experience that makes them fear crime, but the possibility and anxiety of being a victim rather than having been one - the indirect perspective of fear of crime. In today's society, people personalize the routes they take, avoiding times and places considered dangerous and unsafe. This increases anxiety levels as Smith (1986) states that it exposes people to 'emotional' stress and limits their movement. It is argued that the elderly and younger members of our society are the most fearful of crime, however, among these age groups the elderly have the lowest risk of becoming victims of crime (James, 1992). Cater and Jones (1989) suggest that in some respects the "fear of crime" is irrational, while research by Hough and Mayhew (1983) conclude that the fear of crime has not... halfway through the paper... received reality and cultivation hypotheses' Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. vol. 30(2): 159-174. Schlesinger, P. and Tumber, H. (1994) Reporting Crime. Oxford: Clarendon.Smith, S.J. (1986) 'Social and spatial aspects of fear of crime' in Evans, D. The Geography of Crime. North Staffordshire Polytechnic Geography Department Occasional Paper 7.Smith SJ (1989) 'The challenge of urban crime' Chapter 15 in Herbert DT and Smith DM (eds) Social Problems and the City: New Perspectives (2nd Edition) Yarwood, R. (2001) Crime and policing in the British countryside: some agendas for contemporary geographical research Sociologia Ruralis, 41.2, 201-219Zhao, J. Schneider, M. and Quint, T. (2002) 'The effect of police presence on reducing public fear" and satisfaction: a review of the literature. The justice professional. vol. 15(3): 273-299.