The study participants completed a survey that consisted of three sections: demographic and clinical information on the respondent, information about whether the respondent had ever experienced certain types of crimes during his/her lifetime, and specific contextual information about the crime the respondent selected as the most traumatic ever experienced. Findings showed that women experienced more types of crimes, and the crimes tended to happen more than once and be committed by someone close to the woman. The types of crimes these women reported as being the most traumatic consisted primarily of some type of sexual exploitation. The men tended to experience different types of crimes, mostly involving assault and robbery, which most often occurred only once in their lives and was committed by someone unknown to the man or by a more casual acquaintance. Although both men and women who knew the perpetrator of the most traumatic crime were likely to identify a family member as the perpetrator, women overall tended to experience more crime at the hands of people they knew well, such as family members, friends, and relatives. The study found that women and men that had a more serious psychiatric diagnosis were more likely to have experienced more types of victimization. These findings supported the recommendations from other studies, i.e., that social workers should be aware of and better assess for victimization experiences among people with mental illness. Practice and policy issues are discussed. 4 tables and 19 references