NCJ Number
136443
Date Published
1991
Length
430 pages
Annotation
Using recent international theoretical and empirical research, this text examines central concepts and problems in the study of victimization and victim-offender interactions and reviews social and psychological explanations of criminal victimization.
Abstract
The text is intended for use in graduate or upper-level undergraduate courses. The discussion emphasizes the theme of integrating criminological and victimological explanations and focuses on why some individuals, households, or businesses become victims while others do not; why some are more often victimized than others; and why some are repeatedly victimized. Individual sections examine conceptual and measurement issues and problems, especially the use of victimization surveys as well as the extent, trends, and patterns of criminal victimization. Additional sections focus on the reciprocal attitudes of victims and victimizers, their sociodemographic characteristics, victim-offender relationships, and their interactions. The final section reviews micro and macro explanations of criminal victimization, moving from a discussion of how offenders select their victims to the role that victim characteristics and behavior play in victimization. The text concludes with a critical review of the models proposed in the last 15 years to explain the different risks of victimization. Index and chapter reference lists