Explaining criminal victimization in Taiwan: A lifestyle approach

Routine activities and lifestyle-exposure theories were shaped and substantially tested in Western societies; this study extended their application to a non-Western context in Taiwan. Using the most recent but underutilized 2005 Taiwan Areas Criminal Victimization Survey, responses from a random sample of 18,046 participants were analyzed for robbery, assault, and personal larceny victimization. The findings showed that the risk factors associated with criminal victimization in Taiwan resembled those in Western nations, but anomalies also appeared. Females faced a higher risk of being robbed than males; married and affluent persons were more likely to be victims of personal larceny than not married or less affluent persons; and those who stayed home at night were more likely to be assaulted than those who went out at night. The discussion of these findings suggest that explaining victimization patterns involve more than victims' attributes or lifestyles; the social and cultural context should be considered as well.     

Victimization risks and routine activities: A theoretical examination using a gender-specific and domain-specific model

This paper examines female and male victimization risks in general and in three domains: home, work, and leisure/public. In doing so, the analysis is based on a popular victimization model: the routine activities/lifestyle theory of victimization. There are several critiques of the routine activities/lifestyle theory research at present. Most tests of this theory use a sample of victims that does not distinguish between specific populations. Further, research on victimization risks needs domainspecific models of victimization because lifestyle can encompass a large variety of behaviors in several different settings, all of which do not have the same risk of victimization (Lynch, 1987). Analyses using data from the National Crime Survey’s Victim Risk Supplement (1983) indicate the importance of analyzing specific populations and domains in any evaluation of routine activities/lifestyle victimization theory because the determinants of victimization are not identical between men and women or between the domains of home, work, and leisure/public.     

Gang Membership,Gun Carrying,and Employment: Applying Routine Activities Theory to Explain Violent Victimization Among Inner City,Minority Youth Living in Extreme Poverty∗

Conceptual inconsistencies in routine activities theory are illustrated by demonstrating how gang membership, gun carrying, and employment can be categorized as both risk and protective factors in a high‐poverty context. Two waves of longitudinal data from a high‐poverty sample of African American youth were used to examine the determinants of victimization risk. Bivariate analyses indicated that gang membership, gun carrying, and employment status are significant risk factors for violent victimization, but these effects were mediated by measures of lifestyles (e.g., demographic and family factors, deviant lifestyles) included as controls in the full multivariate model. In other words, the strong positive relationship between gang membership and gun carrying found in previous studies may be due to model misspecification and/or the lack of research on high‐poverty samples of inner city youth from the Deep South. Additional logistic regression analyses also indicate that the number of hours employed per week (but not employment status) is a risk factor for violent victimization. Finally, the theoretical implications of these findings for routine activities theory are discussed.     

“Can’t Stop,Won’t Stop”: Self-Control,Risky Lifestyles,and Repeat Victimization

Objectives

Drawing from lifestyle-routine activity and self-control perspectives, the causal mechanisms responsible for repeat victimization are explored. Specifically, the present study investigates: (1) the extent to which self-control influences the changes victims make to their risky lifestyles following victimization, and (2) whether the failure to make such changes predicts repeat victimization.

Methods

Two waves of panel data from the Gang Resistance Education and Training program are used (N = 1,370) and direct measures of change to various risky lifestyles are included. Two-stage maximum likelihood models are estimated to explore the effects of self-control and changes in risky lifestyles on repeat victimization for a subsample of victims (n = 521).

Results

Self-control significantly influences whether victims make changes to their risky lifestyles post-victimization, and these changes in risky lifestyles determine whether victims are repeatedly victimized. These changes in risky lifestyles are also found to fully mediate the effects of self-control on repeat victimization.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that future research should continue to measure directly the intervening mechanisms between self-control and negative life outcomes, and to conceptualize lifestyles-routine activities as dynamic processes.     

The concentration of criminal victimization and patterns of routine activities

Although many repeat victimization studies have focused on describing the prevalence of the phenomenon, this study attempted to explain variations in the concentration of victimization by applying routine activities as a theoretical model. A multivariate analysis of repeat victimization based on the 2005 Taiwan criminal victimization data supported the general applicability of the routine activity model developed in Western culture for predicting repeat victimization. Findings that diverged from Western patterns included family income to assault, gender to robbery, and marital status, family income, and major activity to larceny incidents. These disparities illustrated the importance of considering the broader sociocultural context in the association between risk predictors and the concentration of criminal victimization. The contradictory results and nonsignificant variance also reflected untapped information on respondents' biological features and psychological tendencies. Future victimization research would do well to integrate measurements that are sensitive to salient sociocultural elements of the society being studied and individuals' biological and psychological traits.     

Routine activities and victimization at school: the significance of gender

Routine activities theory has not fully considered the role of gender in shaping victimization and yet, the research literature clearly demonstrates that gender is associated with an individual's risk of victimization. In addition to the pervasive effect of gender on victimization, gender shapes an individual's daily routines and thus may create a gender-specific relationship with victimization. This article explores the importance of gender in understanding the relationship between student's participation in extracurricular routine activities (e.g., student government, clubs, sports, and etc.) and the risk of victimization. From the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, a sample of 10th-grade students was drawn for analyses. Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling was employed to explore the role of gender in the relationship between extracurricular routine activities and victimization at school. The results reveal that students' gender indeed interacts with several of the extracurricular routine activities creating gender-specific risks of victimization. This article highlights the importance of gender in explaining victimization and suggests researchers should consider how gender may interact with other routine activities and victimization.     

THE LINK BETWEEN OFFENDING AND VICTIMIZATION AMONG ADOLESCENTS*

Prior research on victimization in the United States has generally neglected two key areas—victimization among juveniles and young adults and the connection between offending and victimization. The research presented here fuses these two concerns by examining the effect of delinquent lifestyles on the criminal victimization of teenagers and young adults. An examination of longitudinal data from the first five waves of the National Youth Survey suggests that adolescent involvement in delinquent lifestyles strongly increases the risk of both personal and property victimization. Further, the analysis reveals that a significant proportion of the risk of victimization incurred by different demographic subgroups—especially males—results from greater involvement in lifestyles characterized by delinquency. The authors conclude that victimization patterns among youths cannot be understood apart from criminal and deviant activities.     

Youth gang membership and serious violent victimization: the importance of lifestyles and routine activities

Youth gangs have received substantial scholarly and public attention during the past two decades. Although most of the extant research on youth gang members has focused on their offending behaviors, recent studies have examined the victimization of youth gang members relative to their nongang peers. Gang members generally have been found to be at increased risk of victimization, although the reasons for this relationship have not fully been explored. The current study uses data from a multisite study of youth to explore whether the gang membership-victimization link is mediated by lifestyles and routine activities. In other words, is gang members' involvement in delinquent lifestyles and routine activities a viable explanation for their increased risk of serious violent victimization? Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research and policy are discussed.     

Opportunities for property victimization: Fixed and random effects models in a cross-national scope

Cross-national research on victimization often does not consider the cultural effects on opportunities leading to victimization. The current study uses a routine activities/lifestyles theoretical framework to examine the opportunities leading to two types of property victimization across forty-five countries. I employ fixed effect and random effect models in efforts to find the best explanation of theft and burglary victimization. The results indicate going out in the evening for leisure activities is an important source of opportunity for both types of property victimization. While a fixed effect model offers the most appropriate explanation for burglary victimization, theft is best explained by a random effects model. For theft victimization, variation in whether or not respondents work or go to school is explained, in part, by the level of development of the country. The findings provide evidence that there are different explanations of opportunity for burglary and theft victimization in a cross-national scope.     

Personal networks and crime victimization among Swedish youth

We combine routine activity theory, lifestyle-victimization theory, and a social network perspective to examine crime victimization. In particular, we study to what extent crime victimization is associated with having close contacts who have been victimized and/or who engage in risky lifestyles. We use the data (collected in 2014) of 1,051 native Swedes and 1,108 Iranian and Yugoslavian first- or second-generation immigrants in Sweden who were all born in 1990. They were asked to describe their personal characteristics, various behaviours, and past personal experiences with crime victimization, as well as those of the five persons with whom they most often spend their leisure time. Our findings support the network perspective: crime victimization is negatively associated with the number of close contacts an individual mentions but is substantially more likely for those who have many close contacts who have themselves been victimized. In terms of a risky lifestyle that may enhance the likelihood of being victimized, we found only that individuals who get drunk frequently were at somewhat higher risk of being victimized. To guard young individuals against crime victimization, it might thus be worthwhile to focus more on with whom they associate than on their potentially risky lifestyles or attitudes.     

The linkage between deviant lifestyles and victimization: an examination from a life course perspective

A small but growing body of research has demonstrated the merits of linking victimization to a life course perspective. Although cross-sectional studies have shown a strong association between deviant lifestyles and victimization, few have assessed this association from the life course perspective. Drawing data from a prospective, longitudinal study, the current study examines this association in a group of high school adolescents. Results from latent growth curve models show that (a) victimization and deviant lifestyles, measured as involvement in delinquent activities, affiliation with deviant peers, and time spent on unsupervised activities change over time; and (b) change in deviant lifestyle patterns leads to change in victimization patterns over time.     

Risky lifestyles and dating violence: A theoretical test of violent victimization

Research consistently indicates that there are numerous risk factors associated with dating violence. Few studies, however, developed theoretical explanations for the prevalence of dating victimization. In this study victimization theories were tested that suggested risk-taking behaviors (i.e., drug abuse, alcohol abuse, driving under the influence, and sexual promiscuity) mediated the effects of social ties and emotional states on the likelihood of violent victimization in adolescent dating relationships. This model was tested using a representative sample of public high school students in South Carolina. The results confirm theoretical predictions and indicate the effects of social ties on dating victimization occur indirectly, through their antecedent influence on risk taking. These findings, therefore, lend support for a lifestyles theory explanation of violent victimization in adolescent dating relationships. The implications of this research for theory and social policy are discussed.     

He sends rain upon the wicked: a panel study of the influence of religiosity on violent victimization

This research investigates low religiosity as a predictor of violent victimization. The theoretical framework the authors present here posits that religiosity should help structure daily activities in such a way as to (a) limit exposure to offenders by encouraging contact with peers who are less deviant, (b) lessen one's target suitability by inhibiting grievance-causing delinquent activity, and (c) enhance guardianship by fostering stronger bonds with parents and school. Thus, although researchers expect religion to be a bivariate predictor of violent victimization, its influence should be indirect. The authors investigate these claims using two waves from the public-use version of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The results indicate that religiosity is a correlate of violent victimization. Consistent with these theoretical claims, the effect of religiosity is not direct, but instead occurs indirectly primarily through its influence on self-reported delinquency and peer deviance.     

Lifestyle changes and risks of criminal victimization

Routine activity/lifestyle theories have been used to explain temporal changes in crime rates, the social ecology of crime, and individuals' risks of criminal victimization. Using a panel of 33,773 individuals and 19,005 households at two points in time, the current study extends previous research by examining whether changes in lifestyles are associated with changes in individuals' risks of personal and property victimization. Changes in lifestyles which signal greater target visibility or exposure to motivated offenders (greater daytime and nighttime activity outside the home) and reduced guardianship (decreases in the number of household members) are generally associated with increased risks of both types of victimization. Persons who maintained high levels of nighttime activity outside the household were also more likely to remain victims at both time periods. However, active lifestyle changes (increased precautionary actions) did not have their expected impact on reducing victimization risks, and several other changes over time also were inconsistent with expectations. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role of passive and active lifestyle changes on victimization risks and the implications of our findings for developing sociological theories of criminal victimization.An early draft of this paper was presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Criminology, November 11–14, 1987. The data for this study were originally collected by the Bureau of Census for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration and were made available by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. Neither the collectors of the data nor the Consortium bears any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.     

Specifying the influence of family and peers on violent victimization: extending routine activities and lifestyles theories

The fact that crime and victimization share similar correlates suggests that family and peer contexts are potentially useful for explaining individual differences in violent victimization. In this research, we used routine activities and lifestyles frameworks to reveal how strong bonds of family attachment can promote more effective guardianship while simultaneously making children less attractive as targets and limiting their exposure to motivated offenders. Conversely, the routine activities perspective suggests that exposure to delinquent peers will enhance risk. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we found that family and peer context variables do correspond with a higher risk of violent victimization among teenagers, net controls for unstructured and unsupervised activities and demographic characteristics. The role of family and peer group characteristics in predicting victimization risk suggests new theoretical directions for victimization research.     

THE EFFECTS OF RESIDENTIAL TURNOVER ON HOUSEHOLD VICTIMIZATION*

Americans move frequently, and moving alters their risks of victimization. This study uses unique longitudinal, multilevel data from the 1980–1985 National Crime Survey to examine the effects of residential turnover on household victimization. The two major findings of the study are as follows: First, housing turnover is a transition that independently increases the risk that a dwelling will experience a crime. This finding is true even controlling for persistent differences in crime vulnerability between dwellings. Second, changes in the composition and routine activities of households also alter the risks of victimization. These findings provide support for social disorganization and crime opportunity theories.     

Examining the link between assault victimization and ADHD among college men

Research on the victimization of college students has gained substantial ground in the past several years. A considerable amount of research has focused on predicting victimization among college women, with few studies focusing exclusively on college men. The current study utilized a large sample of college students to expand the literature on victimization among college men. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was examined as a risk factor for experiencing physical and verbal assault victimization within the lifestyles/routine activities context. The results indicated that college men with ADHD experienced assault at significantly higher rates than college men without ADHD. Additionally, ADHD was a significant predictor of both types of assault once other lifestyle and routine activity variables were controlled for statistically. Implications and suggestions for prevention on college and university campuses are discussed along with further research avenues and risk factor inclusion.     

Deviant lifestyles and violent victimization at school

This study examines how the lifestyles of juveniles influence violent victimization at school. Using data from the National Survey of Adolescents, this study demonstrates that both indirect victimization, through witnessing violence, and sexual and physical assaults of students are pervasive problems at schools. Although a number of individual and structural characteristics predict the risk of becoming a victim at school, the most consistent predictor of violent victimization is the juvenile's own deviant lifestyle. Those who participate in a deviant lifestyle substantially increase their odds of all three forms of victimization. Therefore, even within the relatively controlled setting of schools, juveniles who participate in deviant lifestyles are at a high risk for victimization.     

Reciprocal Effects of Victimization and Routine Activities

Although there is much research on the relationship between routine activities and victimization, we have little knowledge about the reciprocal effects of victimization and routine activities. The current paper is framed within the Once Bitten Twice Shy perspective proposed by Hindelang et al. (Victims of personal crime: an empirical foundation for a theory of personal victimization. Ballinger, Cambridge, 1978) which argues that victimization decreases risky routine activities and that this in turn decreases the risk of victimization. The current paper tests these propositions by using longitudinal data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, which allows us to tease out victimization and routine activities over time. Both violent and household victimization are examined. Variables pertaining to how often respondents go out for shopping, how often they go away at night and whether they have household devices are used as indicators for routine activities. Results indicate that the reciprocal effects of victimization and routine activities are limited. Consequences for routine activities theory are discussed.     

Victimization and fear of crime in an entertainment district crime “hot spot:” A test of structural-choice theory

Theories of criminal opportunity and criminal victimization (lifestyles, routine activities, and structuralchoice) all stress the convergence of motivated offenders, suitable targets, and the absence of guardianship in time and space. They each assert the chances of victimization increase as proximity to motivated offenders, exposure to highrisk environments, target attractiveness, and ineffective guardianship increase. This study tests Miethe and Meier’s structuralchoice theory by examining domainspecific victimization and fear of crime among patrons of an entertainment district crime “hot spot. ”Regression results show both victimization experience and fear of crime are associated significantly with indicators of proximity and guardianship, but not with exposure or target attractiveness. White patrons of this area are more likely to be victimized, nonwhites report significantly higher levels of fear. The research for this paper was supported by Grant No. 97PRWX0298 from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Findings and conclusions of the research reported here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.