Criminal Victimization During One's Life Course: The Effects of Previous Victimization and Patterns of Routine Activities

Abstract

This study focuses on the effects of previous victimization and patterns of routine activities on the risk of falling victim to seven types of crime: sexual offense, assault, threat, burglary, personal larceny, car theft and bicycle theft. To examine these effects' individual life-course data on marital, fertility, residential, educational, employment and criminal histories were related to histories of criminal victimization. These data derived from a nationally representative survey administered in the Netherlands in 1996 to 1,939 individuals age 15 years or older. Logistic multilevel models were used in the analysis of the data. The results of the analyses suggest that individuals who have once been victims suffer a substantial higher risk of subsequent victimization. This effect of previous victimization can partly be explained by a real effect of previous victimization (state dependence), but more largely by the effects of patterns of routine activities (heterogeneity in the population).

References

Biderman, Albert D. and James P. Lynch . 1981. “Recency Bias in Data on Self-Reported Victimization.” Pp. 31-40 in American Statistical Association Proceedings of the Social Statistics Section, edited by Albert D. Biderman . Washi ton, DC: American Statistical Association.

Block, Richard . 1993. “Measuring Victimizations Risks: The Effects of Methodology, Sampling, and Fielding.” Pp. 163-173 in Understanding Crime, Experiences of Crime and Crime Control, edited by A. A. del Frate , U. Zvekic , and J.J.M. van Dijk . Rome: United Nations Interregional Crime & Justice Research Institute.

Blossfeld, Hans-Peter and Gotz Rohwer . 1995. Techniques of Event History Modeling: New Approaches to Causal Analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Bryk, Anthony S. and Stephen W. Raudenbush . 1992. Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Central Bureau of Statistics . 1997. Statistisch jaarboek 1997 (Statistical Yearbook 1997). `s-Gravenhage, the Netherlands: SDU-uitgeverij.

Chaiken, Jan M. and Marcia Chaiken . 1982. Varieties of Criminal Behavior. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.

Cohen, Lawrence E. and Marcus Felson . 1979. “Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach.” American Sociologal Review 44:588-608.

Cohen, Lawrence E. , James R. Kluegel , and Kenneth C. Land . 1981. “Social Inequality and Predatory Criminal Victimization: An Exposition and Test of a Formal Theory.” American Sociological Review 46:505-524.

Collins, James J. , Brenda G. Cox , and Patrick A. Langan . 1987. “Job Activities and Personal Crime Victimization: Implications for Theory.” Social Science Research 16:345-360.

10.

Dex, Shirley . 1991. “Life and Work History Analyses.” Pp. 1-19 in Life and Work History Analyses: Qualitative and Quantitative Developments, edited by S. Dex . London: Routledge.

11.

Ellingworth, Dan , Graham Farrell , and Ken Pease . 1995. “A Victim Is a Victim Is a Victim? Chronic Victimization in Four Sweeps of the Britsch Crime Survey.” Britsh Journal of Criminology 35:360-365.

12.

Farrell, Graham . 1992. “Multiple Victimisation: Its Extent and Significance.” International Review of Victimology 2:85-102.

13.

Farrell, Graham .1995. “Preventing Repeat Victimization.” Pp.469-534 in Building a Safer Society: Strategic Approaches to Crime Prevention, edited by M. Tonry and D. P. Farrington . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

14.

Farrell, Graham and Ken Pease . 1993. Once Bitten, Twice Bitten: Repeat Victimization and Its Implications for Crime Prevention. London: Home Office Police Department.

15.

Farrell, Graham , Coretta Phillips , and Ken Pease . 1995. “Like Taken Candy: Why Does Repeat Victimization Occur?” British Journal of Criminology 35:384-399.

16.

Fienberg, Stephen E. 1980. “Statistical Modelling in the Analysis of Repeat Victimization.” Pp. 54-58 in Indicators of Crime and Criminal Justice: Quantitative Studies, edited by S. E. Fienberg and A. J. Reiss . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

17.

Freedman, Deborah , Arland Thorton , Donald Camburn , Duane Alwin , and Linda Young-DeMarco . 1988. “The Life History Calendar: A Technique for Collecting Retrospective Data.” Pp. 37-68 in Sociological Methodology, edited by C. C. Clogg . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

18.

Ganzeboom, Harry B. G. and Donald J. Treiman . 1996. “Internationnally Comparable Measures of Occupational Status for the 1988 International Standard Classification of Occupations.” Social Science Research 25:201-239.

19.

Genn, Hazel . 1988. “Multiple Victimization.” Pp. 90-100 in Victims of Crime: A New Deal?” edited by M. Maguire and J. Pointing . Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.

20.

Goldstein, Harvey . 1987. Multilevel Models in Educational and Social Research. London: Oxford University Press.

21.

Gottfredson, Michael R. 1984. Victims of Crime: The Dimensions of Risk. London: Home Office.

22.

Greene, William H. 1993. Econometric analysis. 2d ed. New York: Macmillan.

23.

Hakkert, Alfred and Erik Oppenhuis . 1996. Herhaald slachtofferschap: Omvang, verschijnings-vormen en mogelijkheden voor een aanpak [Repeat vicimization: The extent, manifestation and possibilities to deal with it]. Den Haag, the Netherlands: Ministerie van Justitie.

24.

Hindelang, Michael , Michael R. Gottfredson , and James Garofalo . 1978. Victims of Personal Crime: An Empirical Foundation for a Theory of Personal Victimization. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.

25.

Horney, Julie and Ineke Haen Marshall . 1991. “Measuring Lambda through Self-Reports.” Criminology 29:471-495.

26.

Horney, Julie , D. Wayne Osgood , and Ineke Haen Marshall . 1995. “Criminal Careers in the Short-Term: Intra-Individual Variability in Crime and Its Relation to Local Life Circumstances.” American Sociological Review 60:655-673.

27.

Huys, Harry , and Jeroen Rooduijn . 1994. “A New Survey on Justice and Security.” Netherlands Official Statistics 9:47-51.

28.

Jensen, Gary F. and David Brownfield . 1986. “Gender, Lifestyles, and Victimization: Beyond Routine Activity.” Violence and Victims 1:85-99.

29.

Johnson, Joan H. , Hazel B. Kerper , Dorothy D. Hayes , and George G. Killinger . 1973. The Recidivist Victim: A Descriptive Study. Huntsville, TX: Institute of Contemporary Corrections and the Behavioral Sciences.

30.

Kleemans, Edward R. 1996. “Herhaald slachtofferschap van het delict woninginbraak” [The phenomenon of repeat victimization burglary]. Tijdschrift voor Criminologie 38:232-244.

31.

Lauritsen, Janet L. , John H. Laub , and Robert J. Sampson . 1992. “Conventional and Delinquent Activities: Implications for the Prevention of Violent Victimization among Adolescents.” Violence and Victims 7:91-108.

32.

Lauritsen, Janet L. and Kenna F. Davis Quinet . 1995. “Repeat Victimization among Adolescents and Young Adults.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 11:143-166.

33.

Lauritsen, Janet L. , Robert J. Sampson , and John H. Laub . 1991. “The Link between Offending and Victimization among Adolescents.” Criminology 29:265-292.

34.

Liao, Tim Futing . 1994. Interpreting Probability Models: Logit, Probit and Other Generalized Linear Models. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

35.

Lynch, James P. 1987. “Routine Activities and Victimization at Work.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 3:283-300.

36.

Lynch, James P. and David Cantor . 1992. “Ecological and Behavioral Influences on Property Victimization at Home: Implications for Opportunity Theory.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 29:335-362.

37.

Meier, Robert F. and Terence D. Miethe . 1993. “Understanding Theories of Criminal Victimization.” Pp. 459-499 in Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, edited by M. Tonry and N. Morris . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

38.

Miethe, Terence D. and Robert F. Meier . 1990. “Opportunity, Choice, and Criminal Victimization: A Test of a Theoretical Model.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 27:243-266.

39.

Miethe, Terence D. and Robert F. Meier . 1994. Crime and Its Social Context: Toward an Integrated Theory of Offenders, Victims, and Situations. Albany: State University of New York Press.

40.

Miethe, Terence D. , Mark C. Stafford , and J. Scott Long . 1987. “Social Differentiation in Criminal Victimization: A Test of Routine Activities/Lifestyle Theories.” American Sociological Review 52:184-194.

41.

Miethe, Terence D. , Mark C. Stafford , and Douglas Sloane . 1990. “Lifestyle Changes and Risks of Criminal Victimization.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 6:357-376.

42.

Nagin, Daniel S. and Raymond Paternoster . 1991. “On the Relationship of Past to Future Participation in Delinquency.” Criminology 29:163-189.

43.

Nelson, James F. 1980. “Multiple Victimization in American Cities: A Statistical Analysis of Rare Events.” American Journal of Sociology 85:870-891.

44.

Nelson, James F. 1984. “Modeling Individual and Aggregate Victimization Rates.” Social Science Research 13:352-372.

45.

Osborn, Denise R. , Dan Ellingworth , Tim Hope , and Alan Trickett . 1996. “Are Repeatedly Victimized Households Different?” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 12:223-245.

46.

Pease, Ken . 1993. “Individual and Community Influences on Victimisation and Their Implications for Crime Prevention.” Pp. 323-338 in Integrating Individual and Ecological Aspects of Crime, edited by D. P. Farrington , R. J. Sampson , and P-O.H. Wikström . Stockholm: National Council for Crime Prevention.

47.

Polvi, Natalie , Terah Looman , Charlie Humphries , and Ken Pease . 1991. “The Time Course of Repeat Burglary Victimization.” British Journal of Criminology 31:411-414.

48.

Reiss, Albert J. 1980. “Victim Proneness in Repeat Victimization by Type of Crime.” Pp. 41-53 in Indicators of Crime and Criminal Justice: Quantitative Studies, edited by S. E. Fienberg and A. J. Reiss . Washington: U.S. Department of Justice.

49.

Sampson, Robert J. 1985. “Neighbourhood and Crime: The Structural Determinants of Personal Victimization.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 22:7-40.

50.

Sampson, Robert J. and John H. Laub . 1993. Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points through Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

51.

Sampson, Robert J. and John H. Laub . 1995. “Understanding Variability in Lives through Time: Contributions of Life-Course Criminology.” Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention 4:143-158.

52.

Sampson, Robert J. and Janet L. Lauritsen . 1990. “Deviant Lifestyles, Proximity to Crime, and the Offender-Victim Link in Personal Violence.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 27:110-139.

53.

Sampson, Robert J. and John D. Wooldredge . 1987. “Linking the Micro- and Macro-Level Dimensions of Lifestyle-Routine Activity and Opportunity Models of Predatory Victimization.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 3:371-393.

54.

Schneider, Anne L. 1981. “Methodological Problems in Victim Surveys and Their Implications for Research in Victimology.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 72:818-838.

55.

Skogan, Wesley G. 1975. “Measurement Problems in Official and Survey Crime Rates.” Journal of Criminal Justice 31:17-31.

56.

Skogan, Wesley G. 1981. Issues in the Measurement of Victimization. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

57.

Snijders, Tom A. B. and Roel J. Bosker . 1999. Multilevel Analysis: An Introduction to Basic and Advanced Multilevel Modeling. London: Sage.

58.

Sparks, Richard F. 1981. “Multiple Victimization: Evidence, Theory, and Future Research.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 72:762-778.

59.

Sparks, Richard F. , Hazel G. Genn , and David J. Dodd . 1977. Surveying Victims. London: Wiley.

60.

Trickett, Alan , Denise R. Osborn , Julie Seymour , and Ken Pease . 1992. “What Is Different about High Crime Areas?” British Journal of Criminology 321:81-89.

61.

Van Dijk , Jan J. M. , Pat Mayhew , and Martin Killias . 1990. Experiences of Crime across the World: Key Findings of the 1989 International Crime Survey. Deventer, the Netherlands: Kluwer.

62.

Visher, Christy A. 1986. “The RAND Inmate Study: A Reanalysis.” Pp. 161-211 in Criminal Careers and “Career Criminals”, Vol. 2, edited by A. Blumstein , J. Cohen , J. Roth , and C. A. Visher . Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

63.

Wikström, Per-Olof. H. 1991. Urban Crime, Criminals, and Victims: The Swedish Experience in an Anglo-American Comparative Perspective. New York: Springer-Verlag.

64.

Wittebrood, Karin and Marijke J. ter Voert . 1997. Netherlands Survey on Criminality and Law Enforcement: Documentation of the Survey. Leiden, the Netherlands: Netherlands Institute for the Study of Criminality and Law Enforcement.