Prior theory and research indicate that stranger offenders fare worse than nonstranger offenders in most stages of legal processing, but little of this research examines the role of the victim-offender relationship in sentencing. The existing research suggest that stranger offenders are likely to incur longer sentences than nonstranger offenders. The participants in the current study had all been convicted of attempted or completed acts of homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, assault, and robbery. They were incarcerated at all custody levels. Results revealed that after controlling for offense type, offense seriousness, and the offender's criminal record, the victim-offender relationships did not add significantly to sentence length. Tables and 44 references (Author abstract modified)