Victim Offender Research Articles

Exploring the victim offender overlap among people with an intellectual disability.

BackgroundWhile there is growing international evidence pointing to the increased risks of crime perpetration and victimisation for some people with an intellectual disability, the overlap between offending and victimisation (the victim‐offender overlap) remains unclear.MethodThis study utilised a data linkage methodology of 2600 people with an intellectual disability, exploring their contacts with public mental health services and the police in Victoria, Australia.ResultsVictim‐offenders accounted for a small proportion of the sample (n = 148, 5.7%). The victim‐offender overlap was evident for both violent and nonviolent nonsexual crimes, particularly for theft, burglary, and threat‐related crimes. Key differences were also noted between males and females.ConclusionsPeople with an intellectual disability who are both victim and offenders comprise a small but particularly complex justice‐involved population. Future research should explore the victim offender overlap for males and females separately, as well as any additional risks and vulnerabilities associated with specific mental health diagnoses.

The victim–offender overlaps among Australian youth missing persons

Abstract The victim–offender overlap describes the relationship between crime involvement as a victim and an offender. This study assessed the presence and nature of this overlap in 2,126 young people reported missing for the first time in 2005 followed up for 10 years using police contact data from Victoria, Australia. The results demonstrated support for the presence of the victim–offender overlap, with a substantial proportion (n = 1,116, 52%) of the youth missing persons classified as victim–offenders. The number of times reported missing, younger age at first police contact, sex, having a history of family violence, and mental health-related concerns were common risk factors for both victimization and offending. Victim–offenders were also commonly victims and perpetrators of the same crime type. Findings further indicate the importance of targeting those at greatest risk of being repeat missing persons early and proactively in order to respond to, and limit, the potential for further victimization and offending.

The Interrelation of Victim Offender Mediation and Criminal Justice in Finland

The Interrelation of Victim Offender Mediation and Criminal Justice in Finland

Correlates of the victim–offender overlap based on daily conflict-Level data from digital diaries

This study addresses the dearth of research in the victim–offender (V-O) overlap literature regarding the context in which incident-level abuse occurs. With a national sample of 589 young adults (age 18–32), 9.2% reported 2,015 daily conflicts (73% involving abuse) through digital diaries over a 6-week period. Using individual conflicts as our unit of analysis, we estimated multilevel models to explore both the nature of the individual conflicts and the characteristics of the parties in the conflict. We explored what distinguishes routine nonabusive conflicts from conflicts that involve abuse. We also examined the predictors of abusive conflicts and the V-O overlap. The nature of the incidents and proximities of the parties to the conflict were associated with the presence of abuse in conflicts and the V-O overlap. How young adults manage conflicts played a role in whether the dispute escalated to include abusive behaviors, especially mutual abuse.

Victim–Offender Relationship and the Emotional, Social, and Physical Consequences of Violent Victimization

Research is equivocal about how the social relationship between victims and offenders is linked to the emotional, social, and physical consequences of violence. This study examines the association of victim-offender relationship with the adverse outcomes reported by injured and uninjured victims of violence. The study analyzed 16,723 violent victimizations recorded by the National Crime Victimization Survey from 2008 to 2018. Multivariable quasi-Poisson models estimated the associations between the victim-offender relationship and victims' emotional distress, social distress, and physical and emotional symptoms. These models also estimated a statistical interaction between victim-offender relationship and violent injury to examine how this association differed for injured and uninjured victims. The analyses occurred during 2020 and 2021. Uninjured victims were more likely to report emotional distress (risk ratio=1.41, 95% CI=1.33, 1.50), social distress (risk ratio=3.12, 95% CI=2.78, 3.51), more physical symptoms (symptom frequency ratio=1.68, 95% CI=1.51, 1.87), and more emotional symptoms (symptom frequency ratio=1.13, 95% CI=1.08, 1.18) in family member/intimate partner violence than in stranger violence. Victims also reported worse outcomes after acquaintance violence than after stranger violence. For injured victims, these differences narrowed-but were still significant-in emotional and social distress models. However, the number of emotional and physical symptoms reported by injured victims did not significantly vary across victim-offender relationships. Relational closeness between victims and offenders is a risk factor for adverse outcomes after violent victimization, and it is more strongly associated with these outcomes for uninjured victims than for injured victims.

Restorative Justice in India: Exploring Feasibility in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

Restorative Justice (RJ) is a part of criminal justice system (CJS) which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large. It is a theory of justice that emphasises repairing the harm caused by criminal behaviour. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that include all stakeholders and bring change in people, their relationships and communities. The three core practices of RJ are victim–offender mediation, family group conferencing and circles. In India, we bear a system in which money repeatedly matters more than merit and the principle of equal justice is routinely weakened in practice. It is estimated that around 100 countries in the world adopt and utilise RJ practices. This article will help us to develop an understanding of the traditional and contemporary forms of RJ practices in India and how it can be taken up in our societies, specifically in the cases of gender-based violence. This article will also reflect the relevance of RJ in context of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) survivors and their families and how its procedures can deal with this issue. In India, cases of CSA take a long time (2–3 years) in court before the final judgment takes place. Such complex procedures compelled the researcher to think that a deeper understanding needs to be developed through a sound research so that the process of victimisation and legal procedures can be understood in a comprehensive manner. This would also help in developing the body of knowledge by incorporating the previous work of scholars and various stakeholders such as; Central and State Governments, Civil Society Organizations and Criminal Justice Professionals.

The role of the victim-offender relationship on psychological distress among Latinx women: A betrayal trauma perspective.

The current study expands the knowledge within the betrayal trauma literature by applying this conceptualization to the victimization of Latinx women, a generally understudied minority group in the United States. Under the betrayal trauma framework, this study focuses on the victim and perpetrator relationship of Latinx women to examine trauma-related psychological distress outcomes, including depression, anger, dissociation, and anxiety. Using data from the Sexual Assault Among Latinas Study on 2,000 adult Latinx women in the United States, findings examine the victim-perpetrator relationship of the Latinx women who experienced victimization (n = 870). Ordinary least squares regressions were conducted with the Trauma Symptom Inventory scales of depression, anger, dissociation, and anxiety as the dependent variables, resulting in four regression models. A sequential regression including the interaction terms was then completed for each of the TSI scale outcomes to account for possible moderation between cultural variables and victim-perpetrator relationships. Linear models show that childhood betrayal trauma and total victimization significantly associate with greater psychological distress, including depression, anger, dissociation, and anxiety. Interactions effects were significant for anxiety, showing a stronger relationship between childhood family-perpetrated victimization for highly enculturated women while the opposite was found for family-perpetrated victimization in adulthood where low-enculturated women had a stronger relationship to anxiety. The study findings support the betrayal trauma theory among Latinx women by showing that the closeness in relationship between the victim and the perpetrator for childhood victimization was associated with greater psychological distress above and beyond the impact of other perpetrator-victim relationships. This effect remained significant even when accounting for the total lifetime victimization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Cooperative guardian offenders and sentencing outcomes: Evidence from criminal sentencing documents of child trafficking crime in China

BackgroundStudies have revealed that guardians who sold their children for profit comprise the majority of child traffickers in China. Although sentencing disparity has been a focal topic in judicial studies, few scholars have investigated the influence of the guardian relationship on criminal sentencing for child trafficking. ObjectiveThe current study sought a better understanding of sentencing practices on child traffickers in China, focusing on the effects of the victim–offender relationship (VOR) and post-crime attitudes (PCAs) on sentencing outcomes. Participants and settingWe retrieved all available sentencing documents related to “the trafficking of children” during the 2014–2016 period from China Judgments Online. The analytic dataset contained 844 child traffickers who were sentenced to a fixed term imprisonment. MethodsA joint logistic and zero-truncated Poisson regression model was used to explore the main and interaction effects of VOR and PCAs on sentencing outcomes. ResultsGuardian offenders received sentences that were 12% shorter than those of non-guardians and were more likely to be given 60-month sentences, which is the minimum of the first statutory sentencing range. Guardian offenders who voluntarily surrendered also had a much higher chance of probation. The odds ratio of receiving probation for guardian offenders who surrendered was approximately three times higher than that of non-guardian offenders who did not surrender. Surrendering also reduced the sentence length of guardian offenders by 22%. ConclusionsShorter sentences and a higher chance of probation suggest that the Chinese judicial system considers child trafficking crimes involving guardians to be low harm offenses that pose little danger to society. However, this practice of leniency for cooperative guardian offenders offers offenders pragmatic ways to avoid incarceration, and does not help to solve the problems of guardian offenders who really want to give up custody of their children.

The Impact of Offender–Victim Cultural Backgrounds on the Likelihood of Receiving Diversion

The extent to which both an alleged offender and victim’s cultural background influences how one is processed through the Australian criminal justice system is largely unknown. Such information would provide some insight into the extent of discrimination within the system. To address this question, this study aimed to ascertain whether offender/victim pairings across Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural backgrounds predicted the likelihood of receiving diversion for first-time offenders. The sample comprised 5,616 young people aged between 10 and 17 years, from the state of New South Wales, charged with (a) an offense eligible for diversion, and (b) a crime against a person. Chi-square analyses and binary logistic regression were employed to determine proportions of inter- and intra-cultural offending and the likelihood of receiving diversion dependant on cultural grouping. Results demonstrated that charges for intra-cultural crime (within cultural group) were more likely to occur than charges for intercultural crime (between cultural groups). Indigenous subjects were more likely to receive a court summons. An Indigenous subject charged with an offense against an Indigenous victim was more than 2 times more likely to receive a court summons compared with a non-Indigenous offense against a non-Indigenous victim. An Indigenous suject charged with an offense against a non-Indigenous victim was also more likely to receive a court summons compared with a non-Indigenous/Indigenous offender/victim dyad. Findings indicate that Indigenous status is clearly impacting decisions to divert regardless of the victim’s cultural background. Further research is recommended to explore the situational reasons that underpin decisions to divert on the ground.

The Meaning of the Victim–Offender Overlap for Criminological Theory and Crime Prevention Policy

Criminological theory developed without an expectation of a victim–offender overlap. Among most crime theorists and policymakers, to solve crime it is necessary to solve the criminal offender. Modern choice theories took a different view by evolving from victim data, treating target vulnerability as essential to the criminal act and with full awareness of the overlap. Here, we discuss the emphasis on offenders in criminology as being inconsistent with the facts of the overlap. The evidence shows that the victim–offender overlap is consistently found, implying that offending and victimization arise for similar substantive reasons and that offenders act principally in response to targets. This conclusion has important implications. First, any theory of crime that cannot logically predict the overlap as a fact may be subject to falsification. Second, the choice perspective suggests a theory of precautionary behavior, which urges a policy agenda that encourages actions against crime by potential targets.

Assessing the Victim–Offender Overlap in Prison Victimization and Misconduct Among Taiwanese Male Inmates

AbstractA substantial body of research supports the existence of the victim–offender overlap in the general population. However, few scholars have investigated this phenomenon in the prison context. Drawing on survey data collected from 2,065 male inmates residing in Taiwan’s nine prisons, this study tested the victim–offender overlap hypothesis and identified the most common characteristics of inmates assuming the dual role. Bivariate probit analyses revealed that the victim–offender overlap in the general population also applies to the incarcerated. Four common risk factors were found among inmates who were both victims and offenders. The findings have clear implications for researchers, practitioners and policymakers and shed light on the understudied topic of the victim–offender overlap phenomenon in prison.

The Role of Victim–Offender Alcohol Abuse on Crime Commission Process Involved in Sexual Victimization

ABSTRACT This study investigates the role of alcohol consumption on the choices, decisions, and actions taken by the offenders during the crime-commission process. Specifically, this research aims to compare four different situations: neither the offender nor victim consumed alcohol, only the victim consumed alcohol, only the offender had consumed alcohol, and both the offender and victim had consumed alcohol. The sample used in this study consists of 2544 cases of extrafamilial assault involving adult victims in France. Bivariate and multivariate analyses are performed to examine the differences between the cases where neither offender nor victim consumed alcohol (n = 1259), only victims consumed alcohol (n = 241), only offenders consumed alcohol (n = 822), and both offenders and victims consumed alcohol (n = 222). Findings indicate that strong differences exist in the crime-commission process of sex offenders depending on both the victim and the offender’s alcohol consumption. We observed that decisions made during each phase (i.e., precrime, crime, and postcrime phases) of the crime were influenced by alcohol intoxication.

Ethnic bias in restorative processes? An analysis of access to the police-based national Danish VOM-programme

In this article, possible ethnic bias in access to the national Danish police-based Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) programme is investigated. The analyses of this project show that the VOM personnel informants believe that ethnic minority offenders are underrepresented in this VOM programme. Also, numerous examples of essentialist views on ethnicity and culture emerge among police personnel in the interview and observation data. Yet interestingly, the national VOM participation rates in penal cases analysed for this article show that while young male ethnic minority immigrants are underrepresented in VOM some years, young male ethnic minority descendants are actually overrepresented in VOM meetings.

The Blame Intensity Inventory: Assessing the Propensity to Blame Harshly and Its Unique Capacity to Predict Malicious Satisfaction From Offender Victimization.

Blame permeates our social lives. When done properly, blame can facilitate the upholding of moral norms. When done with excessive intensity or harshness, however, blame can have significant negative impacts. Here, we develop and validate a scale-the Blame Intensity Inventory-to measure individual differences in the propensity for intense blame responses. First, we present evidence for its convergent and divergent validity by examining relations with existing scales. In addition, in two studies, we show that the Blame Intensity Inventory-rooted in an affective conception of blame-predicts hostile responses to offenders better than do measures focused on blame-related cognitive appraisals (e.g., free will, intentionality). Finally, in three studies, we show that Blame Intensity uniquely predicts malicious satisfaction, or gratification upon learning that an offender has suffered gratuitous harm. Results are discussed in terms of important research questions that could be addressed using the Blame Intensity Inventory.

The Victim-Offender Overlap in Sexual Offending: Exploring a Community-Based Sample of Young Adults in Hong Kong.

This study examines the overlap between sexual offending perpetration and victimization among 1,171 participants (18-40 years) in Hong Kong. Testing the theoretical propositions of several criminological theories (i.e., self-control, general strain, routine activity, and social learning), the participants' prevalence of general, penetrative, and nonpenetrative sexual offending perpetration and victimization are explored. The findings indicated that sexual offending perpetration and victimization are generally positively correlated, and further tests using multivariate analyses confirmed the relationship between these two experiences. Less than 5% of the sample had both sexual offending perpetration and victimization experience. The results of logistic regression indicated that participants who engaged in sexual offending were 1.67 times more likely to fall prey to sexual victimization. Similar odds ratio (1.67 times) was true for sexual victimization in predicting sexual offending perpetration. A bivariate probit model confirmed the sexual victim-offender overlap, with the Spearman's rho correlation from the unadjusted model suggesting significant overlap with general sexual offending (79%). Having a high level of risky sexual behavior was found to be a general risk factor for engaging in sexual offending behavior and for falling prey to sexual victimization.

Inter-gender murder in NSW, 1901–1955: Reconsidering the laws of the fraternity

Contemporary studies that focus on intimate homicide assume that patterns of policing, prosecution and punishment were uniformly disadvantageous to women before feminist activists intervened in the 1970s. This article tests that assumption by drawing on the Prosecution Project’s digitisation of Australian criminal trial records. Using this resource, we selected all prosecutions ( n = 314) of men for murders of women and of women for murders of men in New South Wales, from Federation (1901) to 1955, the year the state abolished the death penalty. By coding victim–offender relationships and analysing them in relation to case outcomes, we found that men were far more likely than women to be convicted of murder, including seven men executed for intimate femicides. By contrast, women were more likely than men to be acquitted outright, rather than plead guilty to manslaughter of male intimates, a trend that feminist research has identified recently. This research provides new findings of use to critical appraisals of the charging and sentencing reforms that were meant to remedy ‘the laws of the fraternity’.

Emotional and physical symptoms after gun victimization in the United States, 2009–2019

Interpersonal firearm violence is a major public health problem in the United States. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of gun victimization on the likelihood of post emotional and physical symptoms as reported by victims. We focused on non-fatal violent crimes reported to the National Crime Victimization Surveys for 2009–2019 and ran a set of binary logistic regressions. For outcome measures, we used two dichotomous variables, whether the victim reported feeling at least one of the seven emotional symptoms included in the survey (i.e., anxious, angry, sad/depressed, vulnerable, violated, distrustful, unsafe) and whether they reported having at least one of the seven physical symptoms (i.e., headaches, sleep eating/drinking disorders, upset stomach, fatigue, high blood pressure, muscle tension). Our key independent variable was the type of weapons used by the offender: guns, other weapons, and no weapon. We controlled for demographics of the victim, as well as other aspects of the crime (e.g., age, race, sex of victim, multiple offenders, type of violent crime). Victims of crimes in which the offender used a gun were most likely to report both emotional and physical symptoms, followed by victims of crimes in which the offender used other weapons, and lastly by victims of unarmed offenders. Our findings suggest that the presence of a firearm during a violent crime results in an increased likelihood of subsequent emotional and physical repercussions.

The Police as Gatekeepers of Restorative Justice– Perspectives of Professionals, Perspectives on Professionals

This article concerns the screening processes of the police-based National Danish Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) programme. Depending on police district and individual police officers, my data point to large variations in practice in the programme’s routines of informing potential parties about VOM. The article’s analytical points of departure are research on police discretion – in Scandinavian police research known as the police gaze – as well as the Goffmanian framework of roleplay and stigma. On this basis, I look into how the police gaze interacts with ideals of impartial mediation in the screening of cases for the programme. My data indicate that both conscious and unconscious casting practices influence which potential VOM parties are informed about the possibility of VOM. In this regard, the police perception of and access to data on an offender can be decisive. The Norwegian Mediation Service is included as a source of comparison with more impartial inclinations.

Victim-Offender Overlap in Violent Crime: Targeting Crime Harm in a Canadian Suburb

Research QuestionTo what extent are victims of violent crime also offenders, and vice versa, with what concentrations of total crime harm across each person who has ever been reported as both a victim and an offender within the study period?DataWe analyse 27,233 unique individuals who were the subject of violent crime reports to the Peel Regional Police Service in Canada, either as offenders, victims, or both, for crimes reported between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2016. Each individual linked to a violent crime in this period was tracked for the 730 days subsequent to the first crime report naming them.MethodsWe coded each crime with the Canadian Crime Severity Index (CCSI) to calculate victimization and offending harm totals across all incidents for each individual. We then computed each individual’s ratio of total CCSI from victimization to total CCSI from victimization. Based on the distribution of these ratios of CCSI from all offending to all victimization, we show how police can distinguish three categories of victim-offenders (VOs): predominant victims (PVs), predominant offenders (POs), and balanced victim-offenders (BVOs), as well as the single-category absolute offenders (AOs) and absolute victims (AVs).FindingsAcross all 27,233 individuals tracked, 17,138 (64%) appeared first as victims, and 10,095 (36%) appeared first as suspects. Of those appearing first as victims, 997 (6%) are linked to a violent crime as an offender within 730 days. Among those appearing first as offenders, 1019 (10%) are subsequently reported as victimized within 730 days. The total of this combined group (VOs) = 1665 individuals (6% of the entire population). Using a 3.5:1 ratio of victim to offender harm, we subdivide the 1665 VOs further into 322 predominant victims, 280 predominant offenders, and 1063 balanced victim-offenders. The 20% of individuals (n = 5455) with highest harm are linked to 71% of overall harm. On average, predominant offenders (who have also been victimized) are associated with 2.7 times as much harm as absolute offenders, and predominant victims (who have also been offenders) have three times as much harm as absolute victims.ConclusionsThis research shows how combining records of victimization and offending to target higher harm levels with greater potential benefits for police investments in harm reduction and prevention.

The role of criminogenic needs and emotions in restorative justice: Offenders’ experiences in victim–offender mediation

Restorative interventions can deal with some criminogenic needs. They can address the offenders’ antisocial attitudes, lack of problem-solving strategies, empathy and self-control or, substance use problems (Moraleda et al., 2004; Raynor et al., 2012; Vanstone and Raynor, 2012). At the same time, restorative justice practices offer the possibility to express emotions and feelings, which are essential elements in a transformative process. The purpose of this article is to identify both, criminogenic needs and emotions expression through offenders’ experiences in Victim–Offender mediation (VOM). The research is developed in three phases and include qualitative and quantitative research methods. This article focuses in the second and third phases. The second involves non participant observation of VOM (40); and the third requires a post-analysis of the process (questionnaires 40), which includes an interview (12) occurring six months after VOM. General data give us a variety of results, and qualitative analysis exemplifies the different cases.