Victimization and Repeat Victimization Over the Life Span: A Predictive Study and Implications for Policy
| Date | 01 January 2004 |
| Published date | 01 January 2004 |
| Author | Thomas Gabor,Fernando Mata |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975800401000301 |
International
Review
ofVictimology,
2004,
Vol.lO,
pp.l93-221
0269-7580/04
$10
© A B
Academic
Publishers
-Printed
in
Great
Britain
VICTIMIZATION
AND
REPEAT
VICTIMIZATION
OVER
THE LIFE
SPAN:
A
PREDICTIVE
STUDY
AND
IMPLICATIONS
FOR
POLICY
THOMAS
GABOR*
and
FERNANDO
MATA
t
*
Professor
of
Criminology,
University
of
Ottawa, Ottawa,
Ontario,
Canada
t
Senior
Research
Officer,
Research
and
Statistics
Division,
Department
of
Justice,
Canada
1
ABSTRACT
This
study
was
based
on
the
1999
General
Social
Survey,
a
national
Canadian
survey
of
criminal
victimization
involving
about
26,000
individuals,
15
years
of
age
and
over.
More
than
half
of
all
respondents
(57.8%)
reported
experiencing
at
least
one
criminal
incident
during
their
life
span.
More
than
one
in
eight
(13.5%)
were
victimized
more
than
once
and
these
repeat
victims
experienced
over
half
(54%)
of
all
offences.
Less
than
5%
of
the
sample
was
victimized
three
times
or
more,
although
these
individuals
experienced
nearly
a
quarter
of
all
offences
reported
by
the
respondents.
Logistic
regression
analyses,
relating
to
violent,
property,
and
all
offences,
revealed
that
the
variables
that
best
predicted
victimization
and
repeat
victimization
were
age,
province
of
residence,
and
education,
while
gender,
ethnicity,
country
of
birth,
urban
residence,
and
routine
activities
were
less
consistent
in
their
ability
to
predict
victimization
as
a
whole
or
repeat
victimization.
Taken
together,
the
predictors
achieved
modest
success
in
predicting
membership
in
the
victim
and
non-victim
groups.
The
study
concluded
that
the
concentration
of
victimization
warranted
victim-based
preventive
measures,
with
the
qualification
that
nearly
half
of
all
victimi-
zations
were
not
experienced
by
repeat
but,
rather,
single-incident
victims.
It
was
also
recom-
mended
that
special
attention
be
accorded
in
the
future
to
understanding
the
relatively
low
level
of
lifetime
victimization
of
persons
65
years
of
age
and
over,
the
elevated
risk
faced
by
residents
of
British
Columbia,
and
the
risks
of
violence
faced
by
Aboriginal
Canadians.
The
study
concludes
with
a
call
for
the
use
of
alternative
methodologies
to
study
victimization
and
for
the
validation
of
the
General
Social
Survey
through
a
smaller
number
of
face-to-face
interviews
in
order
to
ascertain
the
role
played
by
recall
and
disclosure
issues
in
victimization
surveys
involving
telephone
interviews.
The
disproportionate
involvement
in
crime
of
repeat
offenders
has
been
well
established
(Wolfgang
et al.,
1972;
Greenwood
and
Abrahamse,
1982).
After
research
in
the
1970s
and
1980s
revealed
that
a
relatively
small
proportion
of
offenders
accounted
for
a
significant
amount
of
violent
and
property
crime,
calls
for
the
early
identification
of
and
interventions
dealing
with
these
high-risk
individuals
gained
credibility
(Greenwood
and
Abrahamse,
1982).
Rather
than
deploying
community-based
and
justice
system
resources
in
a
haphazard
man-
ner,
it
was
thought
that
these
resources
ought
to
be
used
more
cost
effectively
and,
hence,
concentrated
on
those
posing
the
greatest
threat
to
society.
194
The
Concentration
of
Victimization
A
parallel
situation
appears
to
be
emerging
with
regard
to
crime
victims.
A
growing
body
of
evidence
suggests
that
a
subgroup
of
crime
victims
-
people,
households
or
other
targets
-
account
for
a
disproportionate
amount
of
crime
victimizations.
In
1982,
the
British
Crime
Survey
revealed
that
over
70%
of
the
offences
covered
were
experienced
by
just
14%
of
the
total
population
(Farrell,
1992).
Furthermore,
survey
data
from
the
UK
throughout
the
1980s
indicated
that
the
most
active
3%
of
victims
experienced
nearly
a
quarter
of
all
incidents
(Farrell
and
Pease,
1993).
The
Canadian
Urban
Victimization
Survey
conducted
in
1982
revealed
that
one
percent
of
urban
respondents
reported
being
a
repeat
victim
of
assault
and
that
they
experienced
60%
of
all
assaults
reported
(Fattah,
1991).
In
a
large
American
city,
Sherman
and
his
colleagues
(1989
in
Farrell)
found
that
50%
of
all
calls
to
the
police
for
certain
crimes
came
from
3%
of
locations.
A
recent
study
in
Australia
has
revealed
that
half
of
all
property
crimes
are
experienced
by
28.7%
of
victims
and
two-thirds
of
personal
crimes
are
experienced
by
41.3%
of
victims
(Mukherjee
and
Carcach,
1998).
Another
Australian
study
found
that
just
over
1%
of
addresses
in
the
Beenleigh
region
of
Brisbane
experienced
almost
32%
of
all
burglary
incidents
during
an
18-month
period
(Guidi
et al.,
1997).
Longitudinal
studies
suggest
that
victimizations
may
be
even
more
concen-
trated
among
a
small
proportion
of
victims
at
high
risk
over
the
life
span.
Over
a
17-year
period,
the
National
Youth
Survey
in
the
US
indicated
that
10%
of
the
respondents
accounted
for
55%
of
the
total
victimizations
reported
(Menard,
2000).
The
concentration
of
victimizations
was
even
more
pronounced
in
the
case
of
violent
offences
where
10%
of
the
most
victimized
respondents
ac-
counted
for
80%
of all
violent
victimizations.
Nine
waves
of
this
survey
showed
that
over
90%
of
respondents
reported
being
victimized
at
some
point
in
their
lives
and
that
the
majority
(70%)
could
be
classified
as
chronic
multiple
victims
(Menard,
2000).
This
term
refers
to
those
who
reported
being
victims
of
crime
in
more
than
one
year
and
also
being
multiple
or
repeat
victims
in
at
least
one
of
those
years.
Thus,
repeat
victimization
may
be
the
norm
over
a
lifetime.
The
tendency
of
people
and
households
to
be
revictimized
is
also
demon-
strated
by
studies
fmding
that
previous
victimization
increases
one's current
chances
of
being
victimized.
Using
British
Crime
Survey
data
from
1992,
Hope
and
his
colleagues
(2001)
found
that
a
victimization
during
the
previous
four-
year
period
increased
the
probability
of
victimization
during
the
reference
period,
even
if
that
prior
victimization
was
qualitatively
different
from
the
current
offence.
Thus,
a
prior
experience
of
personal
assault
was
found
to
affect
the
chance
of
present
property,
as
well
as
violent,
crime.
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