The explanatory model focuses on the creation of the fear of crime through the direct and vicarious experience of criminal victimization as affected by individual demographic traits (age, sex, and socioeconomic status). To test the model, interviews were conducted with 640 respondents aged 18 and over in three large Canadian cities. A fear-of-crime scale assessed whether respondents worried that they themselves, their families, or their property might be criminally victimized and whether certain places were avoided due to the possibility of crime or violence. Direct experience with crime was measured with an item asking respondents to report the number of victimizations experienced during the year prior to the study. Vicarious experience with crime was operationalized by summing four items tapping the extent of news media exposure. Data were analyzed using correlation and regression techniques. Both direct and vicarious experience of crime have statistically significant but small effects on fear of crime, with the more 'experienced' on both dimensions likely to be more fearful. Gender is the most powerful predictor among the exogenous variables, with females expressing greater anxiety than males. 1 table, 1 figure, and 34 references.