NCJ Number
230898
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: May-June 2010 Pages: 301-310
Date Published
May 2010
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Using the survey data gathered in Seoul, South Korea, the current study tested the applicability of the multilevel approach in criminal victimization to the Korean context.
Abstract
A growing number of studies in criminal victimization had integrated the individual model and the context model to examine the dynamics of influences from the predictors at different levels. Only a few studies, however, had explored the impact of multilevel factors upon criminal victimization outside the U.S. context. The results of the current study were mixed. At the macro level, poverty and community cohesion were positively associated with victimization by street crime and residential crime, respectively. Inconsistent with the findings in the U.S. studies, however, community cohesion increased the chance of residential crime victimization, and residential mobility was not significantly associated with criminal victimization. At the micro level, avoidance behaviors and target hardening efforts were associated with more criminal victimization, contrary to the proposition by opportunity theory. These unexpected findings could be explained by the unique social and cultural characteristics of Korean society. The unique contexts of modern Korean society as well as the limitation of the current study are discussed. Tables, appendix, and references (Published Abstract)