Phenomenon of Victim-Offender Overlap: A Study of Offences Against Households (From Hearing the Victim: Adversarial Justice, Crime Victims and the State, P 104-139, 2010, Anthony Bottoms and Julian V. Roberts, eds. - See NCJ-231063)

• NCJ Number: 231068
• Author(s): Anthony Bottoms; Andrew Costello
• Date Published: 2010
• Length: 36 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This chapter examines the issue of victim-offender overlap and its consequences through the exploration of offenses against households.

Abstract

Strong evidence was found for a victim-offender overlap at least for some household offenses which adds to the overall volume of evidence confirming the existence of such overlaps. In addition, there was substantial evidence that those living in offender households, and frequently offenders themselves, are, except in the case of theft in a dwelling, fairly often willing to report their victimizations to the police. The phrase 'victim-offender overlap' has increasingly come to be used as a shorthand description of the phenomenon where in a non-trivial number of cases offenders may become victims, and victims may become offenders. This chapter attempts to identify the victim-offender overlap in two ways. First, a sample of victimizations is taken to determine whether a disproportionate number of offenders appear within a victimized group. And secondly, a population or sample of offenders is taken to see whether they receive a disproportionate number of victimizations, as compared with the general population. The research findings are then located within the wider explanatory literature on the victim-offender overlap. Tables, notes, and references