NCJ Number
189394
Date Published
2001
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines some theoretical concepts regarding repeat burglary victimization and reports findings from research on repeat victimization for residential burglary in the city of Enschede in the Netherlands, using police records over a period of 6 years.
Abstract
Repeat residential burglary victimization might be explained by the fact that some dwellings are more attractive to burglars than others (risk heterogeneity), as well as by the fact that the same offenders or their acquaintances return to the premises to commit another burglary (a form of state dependence). The Netherlands study showed that there was a highly skewed distribution of burglary victimization in the population that was not due to chance. Furthermore, the study corroborated the findings of previous research, which found that there was a much greater chance of a repeat burglary in the period immediately after a burglary and that the magnitude of this risk declined with time. Researchers have argued that the most plausible explanation of these results is that the same offenders, or their acquaintances, return to the premises to commit another burglary. Using data on apprehended offenders, the current study tested this hypothesis. The Netherlands study showed that repeat victimization was more likely in high-crime than in low-crime areas. The most convincing explanation for these results was that offenders were not only more likely to commit a burglary in residences near where they lived, but that the same principle applied to the chance of committing a repeat burglary. Implications of these findings for crime prevention and detection are discussed. 1 table, 2 figures, 8 notes, and 19 references