NCJ Number
202644
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2003 Pages: 445-459
Date Published
August 2003
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the effects of adolescent violent victimization on self-reported criminal offending from adolescence to early adulthood.
Abstract
The overlap between victimization and offending is increasingly being recognized. There is evidence that victimization experienced during adolescence increases involvement in crime, with those witnessing or experiencing violence in their homes or community more likely to engage in crime. It is important to determine whether or not adolescents experiencing more than one type of victimization face an enhanced risk of engaging in crime. This investigation used data from the National Youth Survey to explore this issue. The study examined what the effect of adolescent violent victimization perpetrated by family and nonfamily members had on the prevalence and frequency of criminal offending. It also examined what the short- and long-term effects of each type of victimization were; whether victimization resulted in immediate offending later in adolescence or early adulthood; and whether those victimized by family and nonfamily members had a greater prevalence and frequency of offending. The results showed that nearly one-third of the nationally represented sample reported physical assault by a parent or nonfamily member, and many reported victimization in their homes and in their communities. Victims of family and nonfamily violence reported a greater prevalence and frequency of general offending, serious violent and nonviolent offenses, and drug use, compared to nonvictims. These results remained significant controlling for demographic characteristics and prior offending, thus reducing the likelihood of a spurious association between victimization and offending. Consequences were immediate and long-term, with victims reporting increased criminal involvement from adolescence into early adulthood, 15 years after the incident(s) was reported. Those experiencing both types of victimization generally reported a higher frequency of criminal involvement than those reporting only one type, although the prevalence of offending did not vary according to whether victims experienced one or both types of violence. 6 tables, 7 notes, 44 references, appendix