Measures of delinquency and crime accounted for more of the probability of being a crime victim than did social background variables. Although race as a control variable contributed substantially to much of the observed relationship, a lifestyle of crime was prevalent among those for whom criminal victimization was a common event. The existence of a 'victim subculture,' as Schafer suggested, was supported if combined with the analytic framework provided by Wolfgang and Ferracuti (1982). The relationship was apparently specific to violent victimizations and not to property offenses. Current victimization surveys may be measuring not only the extent to which respondents are crime victims, but also the extent to which they are involved in a criminal lifestyle in which violent criminal victimizations are common. 10 tables. (Author summary modified)