Many people are afraid to leave their homes because of the fear of crime. Why do you think people are so fearful these days? Do the merits of such a cautious approach outweigh the demerits?

It has been observed that in the wake of burgeoning crimes nowadays a number of individuals are scared to step out of their houses. Many reasons are behind this fear of people. As per my perspective, demerits of this development surely outweigh the merits, which will be discussed in the upcoming paragraphs. Among all of the factors accountable for rendering people fearful, even, in their surroundings, the prominent is the media. In an attempt to make citizens aware regarding the miscreants, somewhere, they are frightening them with the presenting of the news in an extreme manner. For instance, various news channels often broadcast the offence related news in an aggressive way like showing the mess created by offenders and injured victims in burglaries as dramatic scenes, which, in turn, affect the spectators so badly that they begin to feel unsafe in their vicinity. One evident benefit of this approach is that people remain alert while they step out in public places. Undoubtedly, it is quite difficult these days to trust any stranger, especially during travelling alone. Therefore, being suspicious in the public areas, one may be able to point out an offender quickly and consequently, report to the police officials. In this way, future mishappening might be stopped before occurring, which may prove beneficial in curbing the offences as well. However, by remaining fearful all the time, people would not be able to make appropriate decisions about others. Owing to this, under the wrong suspicions, not only they would malign the image of an innocent person, but also the crucial time of police authorities can be wasted. Yet another demerit of this aspect is that with afraid every time can be detrimental for the mental health of the citizens. This is primarily for the fact that such an approach can prove disadvantageous for people in case of confined indoors due to the fear of criminals. As a result, they begin to view, even, their closed ones in suspicion because of engulfed with the stress of miscreants. To conclude that although fear of crime brings awareness in the individuals about the offences committed, still I believe that it has more demerits in terms of mental health and spreading wrong information in the society, which is certainly needed to be stopped, specifically by media, who has a huge role in creating this fear in the minds of people.