Unsafe in the Ivory Tower by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781412954778
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2009-11-24T00:00:00+00:00

CONCENTRATION OF REVICTIMIZATION

Not only do a substantial portion of crime victims experience more than one incident, but a growing body of research shows that repeat targets also experience a disproportionate amount of all crime victimizations. For example, analyzing 10 years of British Crime Survey (BCS) data, Pease (1998) reported that 6% of the respondents experienced 68% of all of the property thefts. Studies of residential burglary, including the 1997 BCS results, also manifest this pattern, in which a small proportion of victims experience a large proportion of all victimization incidents (see Weisel, Clarke, & Stedman, 1999). A similar highly skewed distribution can also be seen in police data of residential breaking and entering in Australia (Budz, Pegnall, & Townsley, 2001).

Among young persons, this concentrated pattern is also evident. Barberet, Fisher, and Taylor (2004) examined victimization for university students in East Midlands, United Kingdom. They reported that 10% of the property victims experienced 56% of all property victimization incidents. Similar results were discovered by Lauritsen and Davis Quinet (1995) using data from the National Youth Survey.Their analysis revealed that 27% of the youths experienced 84% of all the larcenies whereas 13% experienced 82% of all acts of vandalism. Taken together, these results show that, regardless of the data used and the type of property crime examined, some victims experience a disproportionate amount of all property victimizations.

Similar concentration in victimization is found for personal victimizations. Thus, Pease’s (1998) analysis of the BCS indicated that 3% of the respondents reported experiencing 78% of the personal crime victimization incidents.Work with college student samples conducted by Daigle, Fisher, and Cullen (2008) found similar results. To illustrate, less than 1% of the more than 4,000 college women surveyed in the National College Women Violent Victimization Study experienced more than one violent incident. However, this small group accounted for over 28% of all violent incidents (see also Barberet et al., 2004).

Other research has examined the distribution of repeat victimizations for younger persons. Lauritsen and Davis Quinet (1995) found that for assaults, 18% of the youths reported experiencing almost 90% of the assault victimizations. Slightly more than 14% of those surveyed reported experiencing 86% of the robbery incidents. Notably, although most young people included in the National Youth Survey do not report experiencing any assaults or robberies, a small proportion report experiencing almost all of the victimizations of these particular types of crimes.

This discussion on the likelihood and distribution of repeat victimization can generate two main conclusions. First, revictimization is a real phenomenon, with many households and individuals experiencing more than one crime incident within a relatively short period of time. Second, revictimization is concentrated. Although most individuals do not experience any crime victimization, a small portion of individuals and households account for a disproportionate share of all victimization experiences. It is revealing that these patterns are found (1) cross-culturally, (2) for victims of property as well as personal crimes, and (3) in studies using different sources of data and methodological approaches.

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