NCJ Number
147292
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Dated: (1990) Pages: 110-139
Date Published
1990
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This article assess the theoretical and empirical status of offense activity and proximity to offending in explaining personal victimization; the theoretical approach to the often neglected link between offending and victimization is derived from recent revisions of lifestyle- routine activity theory.
Abstract
The analysis of two national victimization surveys in England and Wales suggests that offense activity, whether violent or minor deviance, directly increases the risk of personal victimization. Moreover, ecological proximity to violence has positive effects on personal victimization, regardless of individual-level offense patterns. These results are generally replicated across time and victimization type and are independent of major demographic and individual-level correlates of victimization. Consequently, data support the hypothesis that general deviance and violent offense activity may be considered a type of lifestyle that increases victimization risk and that the structural constraint of residential proximity to crime has an effect on victimization that is unmediated by lifestyle and individual-level demographic factors. The research demonstrates that the three broad factors of violent offending, deviant lifestyles, and ecological proximity to crime and violence deserve further consideration in theoretical and empirical accounts of personal victimization. An appendix describes measures used in the national victimization surveys in England and Wales. 29 references, 16 notes, and 7 tables