NCJ Number
221038
Date Published
2007
Length
191 pages
Annotation
The book presents research to examine the efficacy of the use of self-protective behaviors on violent victimization outcomes, and to explore the effectiveness of each of the four types of self-protective behaviors within victim/offender relationships.
Abstract
The findings suggest that the effectiveness of self-protective behaviors varies by type of victimization. The types of self-protective behavior that are effective in rapes are not the same types of self-protective behaviors that are effective in sexual assaults and physical assaults. The findings for sexual assault differed vastly from the results for rape, robbery, and physical assault; none of the four types of self-protective behaviors were found to be effective in reducing the likelihood of a more severe sexual assault occurring. Two types of self-protective behaviors actually increased the likelihood of a more severe sexual assault occurring: forceful verbal and nonforceful physical. Forceful physical, forceful verbal, and nonforceful physical self-protective behaviors were associated with a more severe sexual assault. Forceful physical and nonforceful physical self-protective behaviors were significantly related to simple assault, while forceful verbal self-protective behaviors were significantly related to aggravated assault. Chapter 1 presents an overview of the extent and nature of criminal victimization, an introduction of the National Victim Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the importance of exploring the relationship between self-protective behaviors and incident outcome, and limitations of previous research. Chapter 2 discusses the current literature on sexual victimizations, robberies, and physical assaults with a focus on the use and effectiveness of self-protective behaviors during these types of incidents. Chapter 3 presents the methods that were used for this study, and include an indepth discussion of the survey used for the study, the NCVS, including the surveys strengths and weaknesses. Also discussed are the independent and dependent variables used in this study as well as the statistical methods that were used. Chapter 4 presents the results from the data analysis. The book concludes in chapter 5 with a discussion of the findings. Policy implications and recommendations for future research are also discussed. Tables, references, appendices