This article discusses the vulnerability to victimization of people with metal retardation in order to help identify potential victim characteristics and training in order to prevent victimization. After arguing that there is scant literature addressing the vulnerability to crime of persons with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities, the authors characterize mental retardation as significant limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviors relevant to daily functioning, communication, and personal functioning. Contending that the degree of uncertainty about the quality and accuracy of victimization data is an even greater issue when dealing with the self-reporting of mentally retarded persons, this article presents a series of theoretical perspective focusing on traditional criminological theories about victimization that tend to treat victims as passive agents, focusing on the criminal perpetrator. After presenting Sparks’s behavioral model of victimization that describes behavioral styles that increase the likelihood of being victimized, the authors test Sparks model in order to investigate the characteristics of mentally retarded victims. Maintaining that the Sparks model is limited in focusing on contributory environmental factors in regards to victimization, the authors propose an interactive schema of victimization, arguing that some victim characteristics reflect interpersonal competence which are amenable to behavioral intervention. This article concludes by stating that identifying potential victim characteristics may help reduce the incidence of victimization among mentally retarded persons. References