A Multilevel Analysis of the Vulnerability, Disorder, and Social Integration Models of Fear of Crime Travis W. Franklin Æ Cortney A. Franklin Æ Noelle E. Fearn Published online: 17 June 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008 Abstract The current research tests three conceptual models designed to explain citizens’ fear of crime—vulnerability, disorder, and social integration. These models are assessed for differential impact across the cognitive and affective dimensions of fear of crime. The analysis reported here considers the consecutive and simultaneous influence of individual- and city-level factors using multilevel modeling techniques. Recently collected survey data for 2,599 citizens nested within 21 cities across Washington State provide the empirical evidence for the analysis. Results indicate that the disorder model is best able to explain variation in both the cognitive and affective dimensions of citizens’ fear of crime across cities. The vulnerability and social integration models explain significantly less variation. Further, the vulnerability model lacks directional consistency across the observed dimensions of fear. Societal implications of the research findings are discussed. Keywords Fear of crime Á Victimization Á Multilevel analysis Á Vulnerability Á Disorder Á Social integration Fear of crime has been recognized as a significant social problem, affecting the quality of life across various demographic and socio-economic conditions. Attempts to understand the dynamics underlying the fear of crime have led to numerous empirical and theoretical developments. Three dominant models have emerged as possible explanations of variation in fear of crime among citizens—the vulnerability, disorder, and social integration models. While each of these models has received some T. W. Franklin Á C. A. Franklin College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA N. E. Fearn (&) Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA e-mail: nfearn@slu.edu 123 Soc Just Res (2008) 21:204–227 DOI 10.1007/s11211-008-0069-9