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Crime in the Ivory Tower: The Level and Sources of Student Victimization

NCJ Number
173581
Journal
Criminology Volume: 36 Issue: 3 Dated: August 1998 Pages: 671-710
Author(s)
Bonnie S. Fisher; John J. Sloan; Francis T. Cullen; Chunmeng Lu
Date Published
1998
Length
40 pages
Annotation

This study examines the level and sources of students' victimization across 12 institutions.

Abstract

The victimization of college students recently has been portrayed as a serious problem deserving policy intervention. Based on interviews designed after the National Crime Victimization Survey, which were conducted with 3,472 randomly selected students across 12 institutions, the study examined both the level and sources of students' victimization. More than one-third of the sample reported being victims during the 1993-94 academic year. Informed by the lifestyle-routine activities approach, analysis revealed that the risk of property victimization was increased by proximity to crime, target attractiveness, exposure, and lack of guardianship. The main predictor of violent victimization was a lifestyle that included high levels of partying on campus at night and the recreational use of drugs. Notes, tables, references, appendix