Theoretical explanations for unequal victimization risks of various subgroups in the population are discussed in this paper. Then, empirical results of vcictimization studies conducted in the Netherlands and Canada are presented in support of these explanations. Also discussed is the significance of these victimological risk analyses for the etiology of crime, both on the ecological level and on the level of the individual offender. In short, we argue that empirical victimology is bound to argue that victimology in turn will benefit from a closer theoretical liaison with offender oriented criminology. With this in mind, the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice recently conducted research projects which combine the tradition of the self report offender study with that of the victimization survey. The preliminary results of these projects show that many crime victims share the typical offenders life-style while these victims quite often report crime themselves. (Author abstract)