Beyond Dichotomy: Understanding Violent Offending and Victimization Among Immigrant Youths

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research has suggested a pattern of lower levels of crime and victimization among first-generation immigrants than subsequent generations. A distinct drawback of most previous research is its focus on the premise of immigrants as either aggressive offenders or submissive victims. Little is known about the co-occurrence of these roles among immigrant groups. Using a longitudinal, national representative sample of school-aged adolescents in the U.S. this study provides an empirical assessment of how generational differences in violent offending and victimization vary when the victim-offender is considered a group separate from victim only and offender only. The findings of this study shed light on our understanding of the often-understudied topic of the victim – offender overlap among immigrant adolescents and can help identify specific targets for anti-violence/victimization intervention and prevention programs.