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Routine Activities of Delinquent and Non-Delinquent Victims of Violent Crime

NCJ Number
210441
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2005 Pages: 235-245
Author(s)
Peggy S. Plass; Dianne Cyr Carmody
Date Published
2005
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effect on violent victimization of engaging in specific risky activities for both delinquents and nondelinquents.
Abstract
Data were obtained from the 1999 Monitoring the Future study, which is a longitudinal survey that has been administered to high school seniors since the mid-1970s. The survey includes questions about how youth spend their time, their involvement in delinquent behaviors, and their victimization experiences. A total of 2,345 youth were included in the survey data used for this study. The study's dependent variable was violent victimization, defined as being a victim of one of the following incidents at least once in the past year: injury from a weapon wielded by another person; being threatened with a weapon, but not injured; being intentionally injured by another without using a weapon; and being threatened with injury by an unarmed person. Delinquents were defined as youth who reported involvement in one or more of the delinquent behaviors listed. Nondelinquents reported no involvement in any of the delinquent behaviors. Independent variables pertained to four categories of routine activities: the use of illegal drugs; legal activities that occur in an unsupervised, unstructured public context; structured activities in a public setting with a structured or supervised context; and activities somewhat protected or inherently "safe." Logistic regression analysis found that the identified activities generally had a relatively weak association with violent victimization. The single exception was involvement in delinquent behaviors, which had the strongest effect on violent victimization. The activities deemed "risky," other than delinquent behaviors, had an effect on violent victimization only for delinquents. 1 table and 29 references