Victim Offender Overlap: Dual Trajectory Examination of Victimization and Offending Among Young Felony Offenders Over Seven Years

• NCJ Number: 252895
• Journal: Victims and Offenders Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Dated: 2018 Pages: 1-27
• Author(s): Carries F. Mulford; Dara R. Blachman-Demner; Lindsay Pitzer; Carol A. Schubert; Alex R. Piquero; Edward P. Mulvey
• Date Published: 2018
• Length: 27 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2007-MU-FX-0002
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Since the relationship between victimization and offending has been found consistently across different samples, settings, and crime types, the current study used data from the Pathways to Desistance Study to examine dual trajectories of offending between the ages of 15 and 24 years old in a sample of male felony offenders.

Abstract

The dual trajectory models demonstrated substantial convergence in victimization and offending; and although there were sizable numbers of youth who continued to be victimized, but desisted or decreased their offending behaviors, very few youths continued to offend in the absence of continued victimization. This study also proposes and tested three criminological theories that have been employed as explanations for the victim-offender overlap; i.e., low self-control, lifestyles/routine activities, and street-code attitudes. The logistic regression results indicate that involvement in risky and/or unstructured, unsupervised activities is a key correlate of the victim-offender overlap. The strength of the relationship between routine activity variables and the victim-offender overlap supports the provision of structured, supervised activities for youth and young adults as a way of preventing future victimization and offending, particularly among youth who have high exposure to violence. (publisher abstract modified)