Social and Scientific Influences on the Measurement of Criminal Victimization

The National Crime Victimization Survey has been informed by decades of methodological research on the measurement of victimization. Yet most criminologists have little knowledge of the process or outcomes of this research or its effects on the characteristics of the survey. Using in-house reports, conference papers, agency memoranda, and other documents, this paper describes some of the important methodological research that has taken place since the 1992 redesign of the survey. Much of the more recent research is the consequence of new initiatives for the survey, such as the measurement of hate crime victimization and victimization among the developmentally disabled, as well as periodic supplements. This research finds that the current characteristics of the NCVS reflect decisions made on the basis of methodological research, broader social and political factors, and budgetary constraints.     

Violent Conduct and Victimization Risk in the Urban Illicit Drug Economy: A Prospective Examination

A small but growing body of criminological research examines the nature of social control mechanisms in the context of urban illicit drug markets in order to understand patterns of violence. Several studies find that merchants operating in this economy experience relatively high rates of violent victimization. Existing theoretical and empirical research suggests, however, that an aggressive posture serves a deterrent function in the illicit marketplace. Merchants with a violent persona will have significantly lower rates of victimization compared to their less-violent counterparts. Using a within-person design applied to prospective longitudinal data from a sample of urban males, this paper examines the proposition that violent conduct attenuates the relationship between participation in the illicit drug marketplace and risk for violent victimization. Combined, the results offer partial support for this proposition. We discuss the implications of this study for research on violent behavior, illegal drug markets, and victimization.     

Exploring the Effects of Changes in Design on the Analytical Uses of the NCVS Data

In 1992 changes were made in the design of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to improve its accuracy and utility. Little is known about the effect of the redesign on the analytic uses of the NCVS. This paper examines the effects of the redesign across population subgroups important in analyses of victimization. This extends work on modeling victimization and begins the construction of a measurement model that addresses the reliability and validity of NCVS data across important analytic subgroups. These two goals are interrelated. If the redesign has a differential effect across subgroups, then it is critical to understand whether these effects increase or decrease the validity of the data. Assessing validity requires developing a model of survey response against which the results of the redesign can be compared. If differences across designs are consistent with expectation from the survey response model, then we can use these new data for substantive analyses. The design change had little effect on models of victimization. The effects observed were largely consistent with expectation from a survey response model except in the simple assault model, where the effects of age and income on victimization were reduced in the new design.     

Bigger is not Necessarily Better: An Analysis of Violence Against Women Estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey and the National Violence Against Women Survey

Apparent differences between violence against women estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) continue to generate confusion. How is it that two surveys purporting to measure the nature and extent of violence against women present such seemingly dissimilar estimates? The answer is found in the important, yet often over-looked details of each survey. Our objective is to clarify some of the reasons for apparent disparities between NCVS and NVAWS estimates by first identifying why published estimates are not comparable. Next, we adjust NCVS estimates to make them comparable to NVAWS estimates by restricting NCVS estimates to 1995 and including only persons age 18 or older, and by applying the NVAWS series victimization counting protocol to NCVS estimates. Contrary to findings in the literature, the NVAWS did not produce statistically greater estimates of violence against women compared to the NCVS. Further, incident counting protocols used in the NVAWS and the recalibrated NCVS increased the error, and decreased the reliability of the estimates.Michael R. Rand - The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Bureau of Justice Statistics or the U.S. Department of Justice.     

Police Involvement in Incidents of Physical Assault: Analysis of the Redesigned National Crime Victimization Survey

Police involvement in incidents of physical assaults against women has been the subject of considerable research. There is still some debate, however, about the relationship between the social structure of the incident and the level of involvement of the criminal justice system. Using the Redesigned National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS; U.S. Department of Justice, 1997), this paper looks at several different dimensions of the criminal justice system's involvement in physical assaults against women including calling the police, police response, and arrest. Results suggest that police were more likely to become involved in first time incidents of physical assaults against women and incidents that involved injury. Differences between models, however, suggested that the involvement of the criminal justice system is a multidimensional process.     

Revisiting the Use of Propensity Score Matching to Understand the Relationship between Gang Membership and Violent Victimization: A Cautionary Note

Previous research has consistently reported that gang members are more likely to experience violent victimization compared to non‐gang members. Recently, however, a study challenged this conventional wisdom using the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) data. Employing propensity score matching (PSM), this study reported no significant differences in violent victimization between gang and non‐gang members. Upon closer examination of the GREAT data and the PSM process used in this study, we note several theoretical, methodological, and statistical concerns. We reanalyze the GREAT data using both negative binomial regression and PSM. We find that self‐reported gang members were significantly more likely to report subsequent violent victimization compared to non‐gang members. Although contrary to this previous study, our findings are consistent with the bulk of previous empirical research and widely held beliefs about the relationship between gang membership and violent victimization.     

The Effect of Maternal Victimization on Children: A Cross-Informant Study

The impact of maternal victimization on the behavioral, social, emotional, and cognitive development in a group of 206 low-income, predominantly African American children from inner city, pediatric primary health care clinics was explored using mother, teacher, and self-report data. Results revealed that mothers with a victimization history reported more externalizing and internalizing behaviors in their children, compared to mothers who had not been victimized. Maternal victimization history was not related to teachers' ratings of children's behavior, child reports of social competence and depression, or standardized assessments of cognitive development. The relation between mothers' history of victimization and their reports of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in their children was mediated by pathways through maternal depression and disciplinary practices (verbal aggression). These findings provide evidence for the link between maternal victimization and children's behavior problems. Treatment for victimized mothers that reduces their depressive symptoms and promotes adaptive parenting practices may lead to fewer behavior problems in their children.     

Using Propensity Score Matching to Understand the Relationship between Gang Membership and Violent Victimization: A Research Note

Due to methodological limitations, such as unmatched gang samples and a lack of longitudinal investigations, it remains unresolved whether joining a gang leads to future violent victimization or both share a set of common causes. Guided by selection, facilitation, and enhancement perspectives, the current study applied Propensity Score Matching on data from the Gang Resistance Education and Training longitudinal study to investigate the nature of the gang‐violent victimization relationship. Results indicated antecedent differences between those who did and did not join gangs, particularly violent victimization and delinquency. When gang and non‐gang members with similar propensities for joining were matched, the relationship between gang membership and violent victimization dissipated. Findings suggest policy attention to early delinquency and victimization risk factors generally.     

Violent victimization and hooking up among strangers and acquaintances on an urban campus: an exploratory study

College students anticipating a competitive labor market and arrested economic independence increasingly elect to delay romantic commitment and reproduction. Casual sexual relationships provide an alternative to the commitment required in traditional romantic relationships. Although committed and casual sexual relationships each have their benefits, both likewise have respective risks. The present exploratory study adds to the growing literature on ‘hookups’ among strangers and acquaintances by examining experiences with (a) hookups, (b) sexual violence, and (c) relationship violence in a nontraditional urban university sample. Findings from logit regression models indicate that gender, race, ethnicity, employment, relationship status, housing, class standing, psychological relationship abuse, and sexual assault by force significantly vary between students who report hooking up with strangers and acquaintances and those who do not. Gender-specific logit models find unique patterns of variables associated with hooking up. Findings are discussed with consideration of policy implications and the direction of future research.     

Self-Control,Violent Offending,and Homicide Victimization: Assessing the General Theory of Crime

Criminologists have long recognized that offending and victimization share common ground. Using Gottfredson and Hirschis general theory of crime, with its emphasis on self-control as a theoretical backdrop, we examine the extent to which self-control is related to both violent offending and homicide victimization. To examine this issue, we use 5-year post-parole data on violent offending and homicide victimization from a sample of parolees from the California Youth Authority. Using rare-events logistic regression models, results indicate that self-control is related to each outcome, but that other risk factors are also uniquely related to each outcome. The implications of this study for theory and future research are addressed.To whom correspondence should be addressed: Department of Criminology, Law and Society, University of Florida, P.O. Box 115950, 201 Walker Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611-5950; Phone: +1-352-392-1025, ext. 213; E-mail: apiquero@ufl.edu     

Prior Police Contact and Subsequent Victim Reporting: Results from the NCVS

This study investigated the association between victim reporting and the police response to past victimizations with data from the National Crime Victimization Survey from 1998–2000. The findings include: (1) investigatory effort by police when an individual had been victimized in the past increased the likelihood that the individual would report an ensuing victimization to the police; (2) however, this relationship only held when the victim, rather than someone else, reported the prior victimization to the police; (3) whether the police made an arrest after an individual was victimized in the past had no effect on whether the individual reported an ensuing victimization to the police; (4) the probability of victim reporting was unaffected by investigatory effort or whether an arrest was made after a prior victimization of a member of the victim’s household.     

Exposure to Family Violence in Young At-Risk Children: A Longitudinal Look at the Effects of Victimization and Witnessed Physical and Psychological Aggression

This study examines the contribution of specific types of family violence exposure (e.g., victim vs. witness; physical vs. psychological) to aggressive and anxious/depressed problem behaviors in young (i.e., 6-year-old) at-risk children. This multisite prospective study of 682 children from four different regions of the country asked mothers and their 6-year-old children to report on violence exposure in their families. After controlling for mother reports of child problem behaviors on the Child Behavior Checklist at Age 4, it was found that subsequent exposure to family violence predicted reported problem behaviors at Age 6. Although mothers' report of child victimization predicted subsequent problem behaviors, witnessed violence was related to these problems only when both mothers and children reported its occurrence. The results of this study suggest that even though there was a relationship between witnessed and directly experienced family violence, both had independent, noninteractive effects on subsequent behavior problems.     

Predictors of Violent and Nonviolent Victimization Behind Bars: An Exploration of Women Inmates

There is a substantial lack of information identifying the risk factors associated with victimization among women inmates. The current study seeks to remedy that by testing variables from 2 competing theories of inmate violence/victimization: importation and deprivation. Drawing from self-report data from more than 300 women in a midwestern prison, I uniquely analyze 4 types of inmate victimization (i.e., violent, property, sexual, and verbal). The results reveal that 2 importation variables, age and prior education, and only 1 deprivation variable, receipt of disciplinary tickets, are significant across all 4 types of victimization. Policy implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Violent backgrounds of economically disadvantaged youth: Risk factors for perpetrating violence?

Adolescent Job Corps residents (n=474) reported the violence they had experienced, witnessed, and perpetrated with regards to parents, siblings, friends, and strangers. Results indicated that there was a high prevalence of all types of violence in this atrisk adolescent sample. Moreover, the majority of adolescents who reported violent experiences indicated threat or use of a weapon was involved. Gender differences were obtained such that boys reported perpetrating more aggression against friends and strangers than girls. Girls reported witnessing more parental aggression than boys. No gender differences in parental victimization rates were obtained. Contrary to prediction, parental victimization did not significantly predict perpetration towards siblings, friends, or strangers for either gender. However, parental victimization did predict increased violence towards parents. Surprisingly, for females especially, witnessing parental violence reduced the likelihood of violence towards parents. These findings support the need to include conflict resolution skills as a component of Job Corps training.     

From the Inside Out: Efforts by Homeless Women to Disrupt Cycles of Crime and Violence

The premise that childhood victimization is a risk factor for crime and violence in adulthood finds general support, though few agree that there is a direct causal relationship. Mediating factors and intervening variables are often studied. Rarely investigated, however, are the complex and difficult dynamics experienced by those enmeshed in these “cycles of violence.” In this study we explore the struggles of homeless women to disrupt patterns of violence in their lives. Using in-depth qualitative interviews, we illustrate how these women learn and understand that they are caught up in cycles of crime and violence and, to varying degrees, have made active efforts to disrupt them. However, we find that they have very few tools or resources with which this could be accomplished, which ultimately thwarts potentially successful efforts for lasting change while foregrounding deficiencies in systemic support.     

Fear of Crime among Gang and Non-Gang Offenders: Comparing the Effects of Perpetration,Victimization, and Neighborhood Factors

This is the first study to examine adult offenders’ fear of property, personal, and gang crime. We examine five research questions among 2,414 jail inmates, focusing on how afraid offenders are of crime. We compare current, ex-gang, and non-gang members. We ask if more experience with crime perpetration and victimization and more perceptions of social disorganization increase offenders’ fear of crime. Finally, we ask if the importance of these factors in predicting fear varies by gang status. Results show that offenders, generally, were not very afraid of crime. Although ex-gang and current gang members believed they were more likely to experience property, personal, and gang crime, they reported less fear than non-gang members. Crime perpetration did not influence offenders’ fear, but less experience with personal crime victimization predicted fear of personal and gang crime among non-gang members. The results also indicate that perceptions of social disorganization better explain fear among non-gang members than ex-gang and current gang members.     

The Prediction of Young Homicide and Violent Offenders

Aim was to investigate a range of potentially modifiable risk factors for boys in late childhood for later violence and homicide convictions. Boys from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (N = 1,517) were measured through self-reports and official records in late childhood (ages 11–13) on a large number of potentially modifiable risk factors, and were followed up in juvenile and adult criminal records in terms of violence and homicide. Predictors of conviction for homicide largely overlapped with predictors of conviction for violence. Twenty three out of 28 possible risk factors significantly predicted later violence convictions. Regression analysis identified four significant modifiable risk factors in late childhood for any violent offenders: physical abuse, parental stress, bad friends and low school motivation. The higher the number of early risk factors, the higher the probability of later conviction for violent offenses including homicide. The discussion focus on single-, and multi-modal interventions in late childhood to reduce later violence and possibly homicide.     

Violent victimization among males and economic conditions

Research Summary In this article, we use data from the 1973 to 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to estimate previously unknown trends in serious nonfatal violent victimization for Latino, non-Latino Black, and non-Latino White males in the United States. Past research has shown that Blacks and Latinos have been more susceptible than Whites to financial hardship during economic downturns and that economic disadvantage is an important correlate of violence in cross-sectional analyses. If significant declines in the national economy contribute to increases in violence, then crime trends disaggregated by race and ethnicity should show greater changes among minorities during periods of economic downturn. Although rates of violence have declined for all groups, we find that trends for Latino and Black males are similar and closely follow changes in consumer sentiment. In contrast, trends for White males display fewer fluctuations coinciding with changes in economic conditions. Continued disaggregation shows that these patterns appear primarily in stranger violence and not in violence by known offenders. The patterns also suggest that the association between changing economic conditions and male victimization trends might have weakened in recent years. Policy Implications The findings raise concerns about the potential impact of recent economic changes on the risk for serious victimization, particularly among Blacks and Latinos. In light of the possible recent weakening of the relationship between economic changes and crime, future research should assess whether criminal justice policies and other factors moderate the relationship between economic conditions and victimization and use group-specific measures of violence so that important variability across race and ethnicity is not masked. These analyses also should be expanded to consider the potential effects on violence of government policies designed to alleviate poverty and unemployment.     

Reasons for Returning to Abusive Relationships: Effects of Prior Victimization

Studies have demonstrated that women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are at increased risk of revictimization, but research has not yet examined whether a history of CSA may affect patterns of remaining in or returning to abusive relationships in adulthood. This study examines the impact of a CSA history on decisions to return to abusive relationships in a sample of 104 adult domestic violence survivors. Participants were interviewed about the number of times that they had previously separated from and returned to their abusive partner, the factors that influenced their decision to return (both psychological/internal and environmental/external factors), and their perceived likelihood of returning in the future. As predicted, CSA survivors (n = 34) reported a significantly greater number of past separations than non-CSA survivors (n = 70). CSA survivors were also significantly more likely to report that their decisions to return were influenced by emotional attachment to the batterer. CSA survivors did not perceive themselves to be at greater risk of returning in the future, suggesting that they may be more likely to underestimate their vulnerability to returning to the battering relationship. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Individual and Environmental Influences on Prison Officer Safety

Prison officers are exposed to violence and other safety risks at rates higher than workers in most occupations are, and indicators of workplace safety have been linked to a number of negative health and occupational outcomes among officers. Yet, few researchers have examined the sources of prison officer safety. Using data collected from over 1,800 officers working in 45 prisons, we apply a multi-level opportunity framework to examine the individual and environmental influences on objective and subjective measures of officer safety. Our analysis revealed that officer safety is affected by officers’ routines (e.g. frequency of contact with inmates) and characteristics that might reflect officers’ suitability as targets (e.g. age, race). We also observed that indicators of both micro- (e.g. coworker support) and macro-level (e.g. architectural design) guardianship influence prison officers’ safety.