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Criminal Victimization During One's Life Course: The Effects of Previous Victimization and Patterns of Routine Activities

NCJ Number
186826
Journal
Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 37 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2000 Pages: 91-122
Author(s)
Karin Wittebrood; Paul Nieuwbeerta
Date Published
February 2000
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effects of previous victimization and patterns of routine activities on the risk of being victimized by seven types of crime: sexual offense, assault, threat, burglary, personal larceny, car theft, and bicycle theft.
Abstract
Histories of criminal victimization were compared with individual life-course data on marital, fertility, residential, education, employment, and criminal histories. These data were obtained from a nationally representative survey administered to 1,939 individuals aged 15 years or older in the Netherlands in 1996. To test hypotheses, four models were estimated for each type of crime. The first model included only an indicator of previous victimization, the second model only indicators of patterns of routine activities; the third model contained both indicators of patterns of routine activities and an indicator of previous victimization. The last model was further expanded with an indicator of the duration of the period that an individual had not been the victim of a personal or property crime. All four models controlled for memory effects. The findings suggest that individuals who have been victimized once suffer a substantially higher risk of subsequent victimization. This effect of previous victimization can be partly explained by a real effect of previous victimization (state dependence), but more largely by the effects of patterns of routine activities (heterogeneity in the population). Data on marital, fertility, residential, educational, employment, and criminal histories (indicating patterns of routine activities) were related to histories of criminal victimization. 4 tables, 7 figures, 9 notes, and 63 references

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