1932

Abstract

Criminological theory developed without an expectation of a victim–offender overlap. Among most crime theorists and policymakers, to solve crime it is necessary to solve the criminal offender. Modern choice theories took a different view by evolving from victim data, treating target vulnerability as essential to the criminal act and with full awareness of the overlap. Here, we discuss the emphasis on offenders in criminology as being inconsistent with the facts of the overlap. The evidence shows that the victim–offender overlap is consistently found, implying that offending and victimization arise for similar substantive reasons and that offenders act principally in response to targets. This conclusion has important implications. First, any theory of crime that cannot logically predict the overlap as a fact may be subject to falsification. Second, the choice perspective suggests a theory of precautionary behavior, which urges a policy agenda that encourages actions against crime by potential targets.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030920-120724
2022-01-13
2024-12-07
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/criminol/5/1/annurev-criminol-030920-120724.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030920-120724&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Anderson E 1999. Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City New York: Norton
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Averdijk M, Bernasco W. 2015. Testing the situational explanation of victimization among adolescents. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 52:151–80
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Barker ED, Boivin M, Brendgen M, Fontaine N, Arseneault L et al. 2008. Predictive validity and early predictors of peer-victimization trajectories in preschool. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 65:101185–92
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Barlett C, Witkower Z, Mancini C, Saleem M. 2016. Breaking the link between provocation and aggression: the role of mitigating information. Aggress. Behav. 42:6555–62
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Beckley AL, Caspi A, Arseneault L, Barnes JC, Fisher HL et al. 2018. The developmental nature of the victim-offender overlap. J. Dev. Life-Course Criminol. 4:24–49
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Berg MT 2012. The overlap of violent offending and violent victimization: assessing the evidence and explanations. Violent Offenders: Theory, Research, Policy, and Practice M Delisi, PJ Conis 17–38 Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Berg MT, Felson R. 2020. A social interactionist approach to the victim-offender overlap. J. Quant. Criminol. 36:153–81
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Berg MT, Felson RB 2016. Why are offenders victimized so often?. The Wiley Handbook on the Psychology of Violence C Cuevas, C Rennison 49–65 Malden, MA: Wiley
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Berg MT, Loeber R. 2011. Examining the neighborhood context of the violent offending-victimization relationship: a prospective investigation. J. Quant. Criminol. 27:427–51
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Berg MT, Mulford CF. 2020. Reappraising and redirecting research on the victim-offender overlap. Trauma Violence Abuse 21:16–30
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Berg MT, Stewart EA, Schreck CJ, Simons RL. 2012. The victim-offender overlap in context: examining the role of neighborhood street culture. Criminology 50:359–90
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Bernard TJ. 1990. Twenty years of theory testing: What have we learned and why?. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 27:325–47
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Bush J, Glick B, Taymans J, Guevara M. 2011. Thinking for a Change: Integrated Cognitive Behavior Change Program Version 3.1 Washington, DC: US Dep. Justice
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Carlsson C. 2013. Masculinities, persistence, and desistance. Criminology 51:661–93
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Chen X. 2009. The link between juvenile offending and victimization: the influence of risky lifestyles, social bonding, and individual characteristics. Youth Violence Juv. Justice 7:2119–35
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Cohen LE, Felson M. 1979. Social change and crime rate trends: a routine activity approach. Am. Sociol. Rev. 44:588–608
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Cook PJ. 1986. Demand and supply of criminal opportunities. Crime Justice 7:1–27
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Cooney M. 1998. Warriors and Peacemakers: How Third Parties Shape Violence New York: NYU Press
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Daquin JC, Daigle LE. 2020. The victim-offender overlap in prison: examining the factors associated with group membership. J. Interpers. Violence In press. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519898427
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  20. Enzmann D, Kivivuori J, Marshall IH, Steketee M, Hough M, Killias M. 2017. A Global Perspective on Young People as Offenders and Victims: First Results from the ISRD3 Study Cham, Switz: Springer
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Esbensen FA, Huizinga D, Menard S. 1999. Family context and criminal victimization in adolescence. Youth Soc 31:2168–98
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Farrall S, Calverley A. 2006. Understanding Desistance from Crime: Theoretical Directions in Resettlement and Rehabilitation Berkshire, UK: Open Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Farrell G, Phillips C, Pease K. 1995. Like taking candy: Why does repeat victimization occur?. Br. J. Criminol. 35:384–99
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Farrell G, Tilley N, Tseloni A. 2014. Why the crime drop?. Crime Justice 43:1421–90
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Farrell G, Tseloni A, Mailley J, Tilley N. 2011. The crime drop and the security hypothesis. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 48:2147–75
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Felson M 1986. Linking criminal choices, routine activities, informal control, and criminal outcomes. The Reasoning Criminal: Rational Choice Perspectives on Offending DB Cornish, RV Clarke 119–28 New York: Springer-Verlag
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Felson RB, Berg MT, Rogers EM, Krajewski A 2018. Disputatiousness and the offender-victim overlap. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 55:351–89
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Felson RB, Savolainen J, Berg MT, Ellonen N. 2013. Does spending time in public settings contribute to the adolescent risk of violent victimization. J. Quant. Criminol. 29:273–93
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Ferraro K. 1995. Fear of Crime: Interpreting Victimization Risk Albany, NY: SUNY Press
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Fox AM, Novak KJ. 2018. Collaborating to reduce violence: the impact of focused deterrence in Kansas City. Police Q 21:3283–308
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Franklin CA. 2011. An investigation of the relationship between self-control and alcohol-induced sexual assault victimization. Crim. Justice Behav. 38:263–85
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Goffman E. 1978. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life London: Harmondsworth
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Gottfredson MR. 1981. On the etiology of criminal victimization. J. Crim. Law Criminol. 72:714–26
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Gottfredson MR. 1984. Victims of Crime: The Dimensions of Risk London: HMSO
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Gottfredson MR. 2011. Sanctions, situations, and agency in control theories of crime. Eur. J. Criminol. 8:128–43
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Gottfredson MR 2021. Modern control theory, lifestyle and criminal victimization. Revitalizing Victimization Theory: Revisions, Applications, and New Directions TC Pratt, JJ Turanovic 56–76 New York: Routledge
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Gottfredson MR, Hirschi T. 1990. A General Theory of Crime Palo Alto, CA: Stanf. Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Gottfredson MR, Hirschi T 2003. Self-control and opportunity. Control Theories of Crime and Delinquency CL Britt, MR Gottfredson 5–19 New York: Routledge
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Gottfredson MR, Hirschi T. 2020. Modern Control Theory and the Limits of Criminal Justice New York: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Heckman JJ. 2007. The economics, technology, and neuroscience of human capability formation. PNAS 104:13250–55
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Hindelang MJ. 1976. Criminal Victimization in Eight American Cities Cambridge, MA: Ballinger
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Hindelang MJ. 1981. Variations in sex-race-age-specific incidence rates of offending. Am. Sociol. Rev. 46:461–74
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Hindelang MJ, Gottfredson MR, Garofalo J. 1978. Victims of Personal Crime Cambridge, MA: Ballinger
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Hirschi T. 1969. Causes of Delinquency Berkeley, CA: Univ. Calif. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Hirschi T 1986. On the compatibility of rational choice and social control theories of crime. The Reasoning Criminal: Rational Choice Perspectives on Offending DB Cornish, RV Clarke 105–18 New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publ.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Hirschi T 1989. Exploring alternatives to integrated theory. Theoretical Integration in the Study of Crime and Deviance S Messner, M Krohn, A Liska 37–49 Albany, NY: SUNY Press
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Horowitz R. 1983. Honor and the American Dream Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Hough M. 1987. Offenders’ choice of target: findings from victim surveys. J. Quant. Criminol. 3:355–69
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Jacobs BA, Wright R. 2006. Street Justice: Retaliation in the Criminal Underworld New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Jensen G, Brownfield D. 1986. Gender, lifestyles, and victimization: beyond routine activity theory. Violence Vict 1:85–99
    [Google Scholar]
  51. John Jay Coll. Res. Advis. Group Prev. Reducing Community Violence 2020. Reducing violence without police: a review of research evidence Res. Eval. Cent. Rep. City Univ. New York New York: https://johnjayrec.nyc/2020/11/09/av2020/
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Junger M, Terlouw GJ, Van Der Heijden PG. 1995. Crime, accidents and social control. Crim. Behav. Ment. Health 5:4386–410
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Kleiman MA. 2009. When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Lauritsen JL, Laub JH. 2007. Understanding the link between victimization and offending: new reflections on an old idea. Crime Prev. Stud. 22:55–75
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Lauritsen JL, Laub JH, Sampson RJ. 1992. Conventional and delinquent activities: implications for the prevention of violent victimization among adolescents. Violence Vict 7:91–108
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Lauritsen JL, Sampson RJ, Laub JH. 1991. The link between offending and victimization among adolescents. Criminology 29:265–92
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Loeber R, Farrington DP. 2011. Young Homicide Offenders and Victims: Risk Factors, Prediction, and Prevention from Childhood Berlin: Springer Sci.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Loeber R, Kalb L, Huizinga D. 2001. Juvenile delinquency and serious injury victimization Rep., Off. Juv. Justice Delinquency Prev. Washington, DC: https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/188676.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Lowenkamp CT, Hubbard D, Makarios MD, Latessa EJ. 2009. A quasi-experimental evaluation of thinking for a change: a “real-world” application. Crim. Justice Behav. 36:137–46
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Luckenbill D. 1977. Homicide as a situated transaction. Soc. Probl. 25:176–86
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Meier RF, Miethe TD. 1993. Understanding theories of criminal victimization. Crime Justice Rev. Res. 17:459–99
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Melde C, Berg MT, Esbensen FA. 2016. Fear, social interactions, and violence mitigation. Justice Q 33:3481–509
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Moffitt TE, Arseneault L, Belsky D, Dickson N, Hancox RJ et al. 2011. A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety. PNAS 108:72693–98
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Moffitt TE, Robins RW, Caspi A. 2001. A couples analysis of partner abuse with implications for abuse-prevention policy. Criminol. Public Policy 1:15–36
    [Google Scholar]
  65. O SH 2020. Street codes and school victimization: analyses of U.S. and South Korean students PhD Thesis, Univ. Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH:
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Odgers CL, Caspi A, Broadbent JM, Dickson N, Hancox RJ et al. 2007. Prediction of differential adult health burden by conduct problem subtypes in males. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 64:4476–84
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Olds DL. 2007. Preventing crime with prenatal and infancy support of parents: the nurse-family partnership. Vict. Offenders 2:2205–25
    [Google Scholar]
  68. Osgood DW, Wilson JK, O'Malley PM, Bachman JG, Johnston LD 1996. Routine activities and individual deviant behavior. Am. Sociol. Rev. 61:4635–55
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Ousey GC, Wilcox P, Fisher BS. 2011. Something old, something new: revisiting competing hypotheses of the victimization-offending relationship among adolescents. J. Quant. Criminol. 27:153–84
    [Google Scholar]
  70. Papachristos AV, Wildeman C, Roberto E. 2015. Tragic, but not random: the social contagion of nonfatal gunshot injuries. Soc. Sci. Med. 125:139–50
    [Google Scholar]
  71. Perloff LS. 1983. Perceptions of vulnerability to victimization. J. Soc. Issues 39:241–61
    [Google Scholar]
  72. Reid JA, Sullivan CJ. 2012. Unraveling victim-offender overlap: exploring profiles and constellations of risk. Vict. Offenders 7:3327–60
    [Google Scholar]
  73. Reingle JM, Maldonado-Molina MM. 2012. Victimization and violent offending: an assessment of the victim-offender overlap among Native American adolescents and young adults. Int. Crim. Justice Rev. 22:2123–38
    [Google Scholar]
  74. Reisig MD, Holtfreter K. 2018. The victim-offender overlap in late adulthood. .  J. Elder Abuse Negl.30:2144–66
    [Google Scholar]
  75. Reiss AJ Jr. 1981. Towards a revitalization of theory and research on victimization by crime. J. Crim. Law Criminol. 72:704–13
    [Google Scholar]
  76. Rosenfeld R. 2018. Studying crime trends: normal science and exogenous shocks. Criminology 56:15–26
    [Google Scholar]
  77. Roshier B. 1989. Controlling Crime: The Classical Perspective in Criminology Chicago: Lyceum Books
    [Google Scholar]
  78. Rountree PW. 1998. A reexamination of the crime-fear linkage. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 35:3341–72
    [Google Scholar]
  79. Sampson RJ, Lauritsen JL. 1990. Deviant lifestyles, proximity to crime, and the offender-victim link in personal violence. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 27:2110–39
    [Google Scholar]
  80. Schreck CJ. 1999. Criminal victimization and low self-control: an extension and test of a general theory of crime. Justice Q 16:3633–54
    [Google Scholar]
  81. Schreck CJ, Berg MT. 2021. What ideas of victimization and vulnerability mean for criminological theory: a logical appraisal. Revitalizing Victimization Theory: Revisions, Applications, and New Directions TC Pratt, JJ Turanovic 15–55 New York: Routledge
    [Google Scholar]
  82. Schreck CJ, Berg MT, Fisher BS, Wilcox P. 2018. That door you just kicked in was locked for your protection, not mine: developing and testing competing theoretical models of crime prevention behavior. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 55:2316–45
    [Google Scholar]
  83. Schreck CJ, Berg MT, Ousey GC, Stewart EA, Miller JM 2017. Does the nature of the victimization-offending association fluctuate over the life course? An examination of adolescence and early adulthood. Crime Delinquency 63:7786–813
    [Google Scholar]
  84. Schreck CJ, Berg MT, Rogers EM. 2021. Predicting the probability of violence in actor-target relational dyads: self-control and interpersonal provocations as mutual properties. Br. J. Criminol. 61:5128299
    [Google Scholar]
  85. Schreck CJ, Fisher BS. 2004. Specifying the influence of family and peers on violent victimization: extending routine activities and lifestyles theories. J. Interpers. Violence 19:91021–41
    [Google Scholar]
  86. Schreck CJ, Stewart EA, Osgood DW 2008. A reappraisal of the overlap of violent offenders and victims. Criminology 46:4871–906
    [Google Scholar]
  87. Schreck CJ, Wright RA, Miller JM 2002. A study of individual and situational antecedents of violent victimization. Justice Q 19:1159–80
    [Google Scholar]
  88. Shaffer JN, Ruback RB. 2002. Violent victimization as a risk factor for violent offending among juveniles Rep., Off. Juv. Justice Delinquency Prev. Washington, DC: https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/195737.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  89. Sheley JF, Wright JD. 1995.. In the Line of Fire: Youths, Guns, and Violence in Urban America Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publ.
    [Google Scholar]
  90. Singer SI. 1981. Homogeneous victim-offender populations: a review and some research implications. J. Crim. Law Criminol. 72:779–88
    [Google Scholar]
  91. Singer SI. 1986. Victims of serious violence and their criminal behavior: subcultural theory and beyond. Violence Vict 1:161–70
    [Google Scholar]
  92. Skinner GC, Farrington DP, Shepherd JP. 2020. Offender trajectories, health and hospital admissions: relationships and risk factors in the longitudinal Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. J. R. Soc. Med. 113:3110–18
    [Google Scholar]
  93. Slutkin G, Ransford C, Decker RB 2015. Cure violence: treating violence as a contagious disease. Envisioning Criminology: Researchers on Research as a Process of Discovery MD Maltz, SK Rice 43–56 Cham, Switz: Springer
    [Google Scholar]
  94. Sparks GH, Dodd D. 1977. Surveying Victims. London: Wiley
    [Google Scholar]
  95. Sparks R. 1982. Research on Victims of Crime: Accomplishments, Issues, and New Directions Washington, DC: US Gov. Print. Off.
    [Google Scholar]
  96. Stewart EA, Schreck CJ, Simons RL. 2006.. “ I ain't gonna let no one disrespect me”: Does the code of the street reduce or increase violent victimization among African American adolescents?. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 43:4427–58
    [Google Scholar]
  97. Sykes GM, Matza D. 1957. Techniques of neutralization: a theory of delinquency. Am. Sociol. Rev. 22:6664–70
    [Google Scholar]
  98. Taylor BG, Mumford EA, Liu W, Berg M, Bohri M. 2019. Young adult reports of the victim-offender overlap in intimate and nonintimate relationships: a nationally representative sample. Crim. Justice Behav. 46:3415–36
    [Google Scholar]
  99. Tedeschi JT, Felson RB. 1994. Violence, Aggression, and Coercive Actions Washington, DC: Am. Psychol. Assoc.
    [Google Scholar]
  100. Thornberry TP, Figlio RM 1974. Victimization and criminal behavior in a birth cohort. Images of Crime: Offenders and Victims ed. TP Thornberry, E Sagarin 102–12 New York: Praeger Publ.
    [Google Scholar]
  101. Tillyer MS, Wright EM. 2014. Intimate partner violence and the victim-offender overlap. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 51:129–55
    [Google Scholar]
  102. Tseloni A, Pease K. 2003. Repeat personal victimization: “boosts” or “flags”?. Br. J. Criminol. 43:1196–212
    [Google Scholar]
  103. Turanovic JJ, Pratt TC. 2019. Thinking about Victimization: Context and Consequences New York: Routledge
    [Google Scholar]
  104. Van Gelder JL, Averdijk M, Eisner M, Ribaud D. 2015. Unpacking the victim-offender overlap: on role differentiation and socio-psychological characteristics. J. Quant. Criminol. 31:4653–75
    [Google Scholar]
  105. Wellford CF. 1997. Controlling crime and achieving justice: the American Society of Criminology 1996 presidential address. Criminology 35:1–12
    [Google Scholar]
  106. Wikström P-OH, Oberwittler D, Treiber K, Hardie B. 2012a. Breaking Rules: The Social and Situational Dynamics of Young People's Urban Crime Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  107. Wikström P-OH, Treiber K, Hardie B 2012b. Examining the role of the environment in crime causation: small-area community surveys and space-time budgets. The SAGE Handbook of Criminological Research Methods D Gadd, S Karstedt, SF Messner 111–27 London: Sage
    [Google Scholar]
  108. Wilcox P, Tillyer MS, Fisher BS. 2009. Gendered opportunity? School-based adolescent victimization. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 46:2245–69
    [Google Scholar]
  109. Wolfgang M. 1958. Patterns in Criminal Homicide London: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  110. Wright RT, Decker SH. 1997. Armed Robbers in Action: Stickups and Street Culture Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  111. von Hentig H. 1948. The Criminal and His Victim: Studies in the Sociobiology of Crime New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030920-120724
Loading
  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error