Exploring the Overlap between Victimization and Offending among Women in Sex Work

Abstract

This study examines reported victimization and reported offending of women involved in sex work in the United States in order to identify demographic and behavioral overlap between women who presented to the justice system as victims and offenders, and between women identified as trafficked persons or as prostitutes. Results indicate significant offending and victimization experiences among women in the sex industry. Among women who presented both victimization and offending (victim-offenders)—compared to those who were exclusively victims or exclusively offenders and those without such experiences—substance abuse problems, injuries, and multiple arrests were proportionally higher. Distinctive behavioral differences between trafficked women and prostitutes were not evident. Policy implications for the justice system are discussed.     

Sexual Violence Against Marginalized Victims: Choice of Victim or Victim of Choice?

Research shows that sex trade workers and homeless populations are at a high risk of severe violence and homicide. Based on a sample of 229 violent sex offenders, we investigate the differences between sexual crimes committed against marginalized (n = 73) and nonmarginalized victims (n = 156). Findings from logistic regression analyses show that offenders who target marginalized victims are more likely to degrade their victim and use a variety of torture methods. However, offenders who target nonmarginalized victims are more likely to use a weapon, and kill the victim by strangulation. Implications for future research are discussed.     

The Consequences of Identity Theft Victimization: An Examination of Emotional and Physical Health Outcomes

Identity theft—one of the fastest growing crimes—results in considerable financial losses as well as time spent to restore credit and prevent future attacks. While scholars have begun to devote more attention to identifying the factors that increase risk of identity theft, little is known about the aftermath for victims. Using data from the Identity Theft Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, we address this gap in the literature. Results indicate that, in addition to financial losses and loss of time, victims also experience emotional (e.g., depression) and physical (e.g., poor health) symptoms. The implications of these findings for theory, research, and policy are discussed.     

Where Registered Sex Offenders Live: Community Characteristics and Proximity to Possible Victims

Recent developments in sanctions for sex offenders emphasize use of sex offender registries and residential restrictions in efforts to raise public awareness and keep offenders away from possible victims. One consequence of such efforts is to relegate registered sex offenders to socially disorganized communities. The present study draws on census tract level data from one urban county and assesses whether offenders are likely to be found in socially disorganized communities and in communities with high concentrations of potential victims. Findings show that registered sex offenders are more likely to reside in socially disorganized and disadvantaged communities, but not in locations with large pools of most types of possible victims (e.g., women living alone, children). Residential location is explained in terms of economic factors, not desire to live near possible victims. Implications for current policies and practices are discussed.     

The Social and Geographic Patterns of Sexual Offending: Is Sex Offender Residence Restriction Legislation Practical?

The development of sex offender residence restriction legislation was predicated on the assumption that sex offenders pose an increased risk to the public. The goal of such legislation was to create “sex-offender-free” zones in an effort to decrease sex offenders’ access to potential victims. Such legislation prohibits registered sex offenders from residing near landmarks where children are known to congregate. Empirical evidence thus far has failed to demonstrate that residing near these landmarks contributes to sex offenders’ ability to access victims, and may actually be doing more harm than good. The current study questions the rationale behind the implementation of residence restrictions and if this rationale is consistent with the realities of victim selection and sexual offending among incarcerated sex offenders. The sample consisted of 270 males incarcerated in a New Jersey correctional facility. The results demonstrate that most sex offenders resided within a 2,500-foot restricted landmark zone. However, after examining the methods sex offenders used and examining how far they traveled to meet or establish contact with their victims, residing near restricted landmarks did not contribute to victim selection. Of the 270 sex offenders, the offense patterns consistent with many residence restrictions were applicable to less than 1%.     

A Criminological Fly in the Ointment: Specialty Courts and the Generality of Deviance

ABSTRACT

Specialty courts—such as drug courts, mental health courts, or domestic violence courts—tend to assume, either implicitly or explicitly, that particular groups of offenders have unique problems that can be best met with specialized case processing. Put simply, specialty courts assume that offenders themselves are specialists when it comes to offending. There is, however, a criminological fly in the ointment. The problem is that criminological theory and research have long demonstrated that offenders tend to be generalists and that they rarely specialize in any given form of misbehavior. Accordingly, the authors argue here that the notion of the “generality of deviance” presents a problem for the potential effectiveness of specialty courts because they are likely operating on a faulty set of ideas about offending behavior. The authors offer strategies for moving forward to better integrate the notion of the generality of deviance into specialty courts: in particular, embracing a rehabilitative philosophy and adopting well-documented correctional treatment approaches such as cognitive-behavioral interventions and the risk-need-responsivity model. They conclude by highlighting the risks associated with granting system efficiency a position of privilege among the multiple goals of corrections.     

When do People Value Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice Over the Punishment of Offenders?

The authors explored the characteristics of individuals that affect their attitudes toward restorative justice-—in which offenders, victims, and communities meet to redress the damage the offence had caused. Across three studies, participants completed questionnaires that assessed whether they believe that people in general, or offenders in particular, can change fundamentally as well as attitudes toward restorative justice, rehabilitation, and punishment. In one study, the questionnaire also included measures of social dominance orientation, goal orientation, and future clarity. Generally, participants who believed that offenders can change fundamentally were more likely to agree to participate in restorative justice meetings and endorse rehabilitation over punishment. Yet, the belief that individuals in general can change fundamentally was not significantly associated with these attitudes toward alternative responses to crime. Social dominance orientation was inversely, and a learning orientation and future clarity were positively, associated with this belief that offenders can change. Thus, interventions that diminish inequality in income, privileges, and influence—and thus curb a social dominance orientation—may foster an openness toward restorative justice. Initiatives that continually reward people who gradually develop their expertise, and thus promote a learning orientation, should also foster this openness toward alternatives to custodial sentences.     

The Victims’ Directive and What Victims Want From Restorative Justice

Following fierce campaigning by victims’ groups, the European Commission has entered into a process of legislative and policy reforms with the aim of repositioning the victim in criminal proceedings. By November 2015, member states will need to have demonstrated that they have modified their domestic laws to give effect to the Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support, and protection of victims of crime. For the first time, restorative justice is explicitly regulated at EU legal level, as the Directive aims to establish a baseline for its safe implementation across member states. With this EU-wide policy backdrop and using original data, the article posits evidence-based recommendations for the implementation of the Directive. The research was carried out in 2013–14 as part of the “Restorative Justice in Europe” project co-financed by the European Commission. The research took place in the United Kingdom and combined desk research and qualitative research strategies with victims, while it triangulated its findings with follow-up surveys with offenders and professionals.     

Social Ties,Collective Efficacy,and Crime-Specific Fear in Seattle Neighborhoods

While research suggests that individuals’ interactions with their communities—such as their social integration into the community and perceptions of collective efficacy—impact their perceived risk of victimization, only a handful of studies have examined the influence of these characteristics on crime-specific, emotional fear. Using the Seattle Neighborhoods and Crime Survey, we conduct multilevel models to examine whether social ties and collective efficacy are associated with perceived risk and emotional fear of violence and burglary. The results show that individuals’ social ties to the community are negatively associated with perceived risk, but not emotional fear of violence or burglary, while perceived collective efficacy is negatively related to both cognitive and emotional fear. Moreover, the results suggest that individuals’ social integration into the community functions through perceptions of collective efficacy to predict perceived risk; however, this process does not extend to emotional fear of either violence or burglary.     

Gangs,Gender, and Violent Victimization

Gang scholars have recently turned their attention to a unique and underdeveloped line of inquiry: the victimization of gang members. However, the gang-victimization link remains unclear, especially in terms of how gang men and women are violently victimized in different—or similar—ways. Using a sample of 2,345 adult jail inmates incarcerated in Florida (ages 18–84), this study explores the role of gender in terms of (1) the forms of violent crimes gang members experience more than nongang members, (2) who victimizes gang members, and (3) if gang members’ risky lifestyles explain victimization risk. Findings reveal more similarities than differences among gang men (n = 300) and women (n = 53). Gang men and women are generally victimized by the same violent crimes, and while the offenders who target gang members vary, there are no significant gender differences. Female gang members were significantly more likely to be sexually assaulted by members of their own gang and nonmembers (compared to members of rival gangs). The gang-victimization link remains significant for both men and women even after accounting for demographic characteristics, gang membership, and risky lifestyles—including violent offending.     

Coping with youth suicide and overdose: one community's efforts to investigate, intervene, and prevent suicide contagion

From 2000-2005, Somerville, MA, experienced a number of youth overdoses and suicides. The community response followed CDC recommendations for contagion containment. A community coalition, Somerville Cares About Prevention, became a pivotal convener of community partners and a local research organization, the Institute for Community Health, provided needed expertise in surveillance and analysis. Mayoral leadership provided the impetus for action while community activists connected those at risk with mental health resources. Using a variety of data sources (including death certificates, youth risk surveys, 911 call data, and hospital discharges) overdose and suicide activity were monitored. Rates of suicide and overdose for 10-24-year-olds were higher than in previous years. Using case investigation methods, the majority of suicide victims were found to be linked through common peer groups and substance abuse. Subsequent community action steps included: a community-based trauma response team, improved media relationships, focus groups for suicide survivors, and prevention trainings to community stakeholders. Youth suicide and overdose activity subsided in May of 2005. The community partnerships were critical elements for developing a response to this public health crisis. This collaborative approach to suicide contagion used existing resources and provides important lessons learned for other communities facing similar circumstances.     

A Retrospective Analysis of Repeated Incarceration Using a National Sample: What Makes Female Inmates Different From Male Inmates?

As a consequence of the War on Drugs, many women experience repeated incarceration. Extant research on habitual offending has mostly focused on male offenders. Drawing upon research on female and male offenders’ recidivism, traditional theories of female criminality and the premises of GST, social control, and differential association theories, we constructed an integrated model to examine risk factors for repeated incarcerations among male and female adult offenders. We used data from the Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities. Our analysis revealed that, similarly to male offenders, female offenders’ repeated incarcerations were statistically associated with drug abuse, exposure to family members’ and friends’ drug addiction, parental incarceration, and unemployment.     

Violent Victimization and Perpetration: Joint and Distinctive Implications for Adolescent Development

To date few reports have provided direct comparison of psychosocial vulnerability and resources among youth with victimization and perpetration histories. Within a racially diverse, high-risk adolescent sample (n = 849), this study undertakes MANCOVA tests on a multidimensional set of risk and protective factors contrasting youth with histories of 1) neither violent victimization nor perpetration, 2) victimization only , 3) both perpetration only, and 4) both victimization and perpetration. All three violence-affected groups reported elevated risk and diminished protection, with perpetrating victims demonstrating the greatest psychosocial impairment. Detailed contrasts among the youth group profiles provide insights regarding overlapping and distinct developmental etiologies and implications for preventive and remedial intervention.     

Examining Connections between the Police and Prosecution in Sexual Assault Case Processing: Does the Use of Exceptional Clearance Facilitate a Downstream Orientation?

After several decades of research on how the criminal justice system handles reports of sexual assault, the attrition of cases at the police and prosecutor stages continues to draw the attention of policy makers, victim advocates, and academics. Such attrition has implications for thousands of victims and their alleged offenders each year. Current estimates show that significant rates of attrition persist and vary across jurisdictions. Recent work in two jurisdictions reveals a pattern of exceptional clearances being used to close sexual assault cases reported to the police and that prosecutors are weighing in at the arrest stage. Broadening this analysis we use incident data from a multitude of jurisdictions that report to the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in combination with data from other law enforcement sources to investigate how legal and extra-legal incident factors as well as agency factors differentiate the decision to clear cases by exceptional means from clearance by arrest. We find that agency, legal, and extra-legal factors predict the use of exceptional clearance relative to arrest and discuss how these findings suggest a downstream orientation in case processing.     

Psychological Distress,Formal Help-Seeking Behavior,and the Role of Victim Services Among Violent Crime Victims

Using data from the 2015 National Crime Victimization Survey, this research explores the characteristics related to psychological distress and formal help-seeking behavior among victims of violent crime. Logistic regression analyses indicate that psychological distress symptoms vary by victim and offense characteristics. As anticipated, for example, the odds of a victim of sexual assault reporting the highest level of psychological distress are 5.88 times higher than are the odds of simple assault victims. However, when looking at subsequent formal help-seeking behavior for psychological distress, sexual assault victims do not seek formal help for their distress more than victims of other violent crimes. The analyses reveal that only gender and disability consistently predict high psychological distress and formal help-seeking behavior. Contact with a victim service agency was shown to be a powerful predictor of formal help-seeking behavior, though the analyses illustrated that victims most in need of intervention are not always the ones who receive it. In fact, only 23% of victims sought formal help for their psychological distress. This study sheds additional light on the issue of psychological distress and the limited formal help-seeking behavior of violent crime victims, while illustrating characteristics predictive of formal help-seeking, such as intervention through victim services.     

From Victimization to Criminalization: General Strain Theory and the Relationship Between Poly-victimization and Delinquency

Although it is well established that victimization and delinquency are related, it is not clear how this relationship works, and victims and offenders are still often studied and treated as two distinct groups. General strain theory views victimization as a form of injustice, which can give rise to anger and eventually lead to delinquency. The authors examine victimization, in particular polyvictimization, as a criminogenic factor. Based on a sample of 1,400 youths 12–17 years old in Quebec (Canada), they examine polyvictimization in relation to delinquency as well as negative emotions that can result from victimization namely anger, depression, and posttraumatic stress. The findings show support for general strain theory and highlight the importance of anger for the relationship between victimization and juvenile delinquency.     

“Yardsticks” for Victim Sensitive Process: Principle-Based Standards for Gauging the Integrity of Restorative Justice Process

For almost two decades restorative justice practices have demonstrated positive impacts on crime victim satisfaction when compared to court and other adversarial processes. Although restorative justice practice has by no means addressed the myriad needs of the majority of crime victims, researchers and policy makers have puzzled about how to interpret these generally positive findings. We suggest that remaining difficulties in interpretation and application of findings are due largely to (1) the lack of clear standards for gauging the integrity, or “restorativeness,” of interventions and (2) the failure to articulate logical mechanisms (i.e., intervention theories) that connect practices to immediate and intermediate outcomes, and these outcomes to long term changes in the well-being of victims, offenders, and communities. This article focuses primarily on the first problem, defining the “independent variable” in restorative practices aimed at having an impact on crime victims. Using qualitative data from a national case study, a principle-based approach to evaluation with implications for intervention theory and both input and outcome measures in future research is proposed and briefly illustrated.     

A Mixed Methods Exploratory Examination of Victim Injury and Death: Effect of Weapon Type and Victim Resistance During Sexual Assaults by Strangers

Extending prior research regarding victim injury during sexual assault, the current study employed mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design to identify predictors of victim injury and victim death in 361 attempted and completed sexual assaults committed by 72 repeat sex offenders who assaulted strangers. Results from multinomial path analysis indicated that being female and offender coercion increased the likelihood of victim resistance, which in turn elevated the likelihood of victim injury. Divergent from the predictors of victim injury, the risk of victim death increased with victim age, offender alcohol use, and offender weapon possession. Exploratory analyses suggest that certain weapons resulted in higher probability of victim injury or victim death within the context of victim resistance. Exploratory analysis of qualitative data indicated that crime event order was not uniform—in some cases victim resistance preceded victim injury and in some assaults victim injury occurred prior to or was unrelated to victim resistance. The study findings highlight the need for further investigation of victim survival strategies when offenders possess different types of weapons.     

The “Independent Variable” in Restorative Justice: Theory-Based Standards for Evaluating the Impact and Integrity of Victim Sensitive Process (Part II)

For almost two decades restorative justice practices have demonstrated positive impacts on crime victim satisfaction when compared to court and other adversarial processes. Although these practices have by no means addressed the myriad needs of crime victims, researchers and policy makers have puzzled about how to interpret these generally positive findings. We suggest that remaining difficulties in concluding that positive findings are a result of restorative process rather than some other factor (e.g., procedural justice) are due largely to (1) the lack of clear standards for gauging the integrity, or “restorativeness,” of interventions and (2) the failure to articulate logical mechanisms (i.e., intervention theories) that connect practices to immediate and intermediate outcomes, and these outcomes to long-term changes in the well-being of victims, offenders, and communities. In part 1 of a two-part discussion previously published in this journal, we described alternative definitions of restorative justice and outlined three core principles that provide a useful normative theory of restorative justice. In part 2, we focus on the “intervening variable” in restorative justice, utilizing qualitative data from a national case study to illustrate some potential immediate and intermediate outcomes of restorative justice practice on victims. We also discuss the implications of these outcomes for intervention theory and future research.     

Reaping What They Sow? Victim-Offender Overlap Perceptions and Victim Blaming Attitudes

Examining the tendency to attribute blame to crime victims reveals a striking dichotomy. Some types, such as children, elicit intense emotional reactions from the public. Alternatively, others, such as the typical victims of street crimes, garner substantially less concern. According to the “just world” hypothesis, these latter groups may be perceived by the public as criminally involved, and so “blameworthy” for their victimization. We test this hypothesis—specifically, we evaluate whether perceptions of the extent of victims’ involvement in crime are associated with dispositional attributions for victimization. Data from a recent national survey (N = 760) are analyzed. To extend generalizability, we replicate results with a college sample (N = 733). Findings indicate that victim-offender overlap perceptions vary consistently by crime type. There is also consistent evidence that perceiving a larger victim-offender overlap is associated with the view that the causes of criminal victimization are, in part, dispositional—and thus that crime victims hold personal responsibility.