The Victim-Offender Overlap: Specifying the Role of Peer Groups

Abstract

Although research consistently indicates that adolescents' peers are an important determinant of their involvement in crime as offenders, there has been little attention to whether adolescents' peers influence adolescent victimization. This omission is problematic both because some adolescents alternate between offending and victimization and because many of the same factors that predict offending also predict victimization, suggesting the peer groups may be an important, but overlooked iv substantial, robust, and reciprocal and that the victim-offender overlap is likely the result of a similar social process; 2) peer group characteristics influence adolescents' risk of both victimization and offending and moderate the effects of offending on victimization; and 3) school context generally does not significantly affect the victimoffender overlap.

Economic Factors of Victimization: Evidence from Germany

“…The same positive interrelationship between unobserved drivers of victimization and offending has been documented in a doctoral dissertation by Shaffer () and by Foreman‐Peck and Moore (). Their empirical models differ from each other with respect to included explanatory variables: Shaffer () has a strong focus on the significant role of peer effects, whereas Foreman‐Peck and Moore () highlight the importance of risk aversion and time preference. They use a sample of pedestrians who were approached in the Cardiff city center in the evening and asked if they would participate in a survey of attitudes to disorder.…”

Risk, offending behaviour and young people in the Cook Islands: A study of cultural resilience

“…These results support the theory of the victim-offender overlap (Entorf, 2012;Shaffer, 2004), which suggests that victim and offender are frequently the same person. Much of the research in this field has concentrated on the fact that young males in poor neighbourhoods are victims of violence and robberies as much as they are perpetrators;…”

“…This pathway to the prison has been described by researchers worldwide (Jacobson et. al., 2010;McAuley, 2010;Topitzes, Mersky & Reynolds, 2011) and is an aspect of the victim-offender overlap mentioned by Shaffer (2004). Entorf (2012) notes that the victim-offender overlap, although well documented and supported by robust evidence, is still not well understood and Shaffer (2004) asks what the causal connection might be between victimization and offending behaviour.…”

“…al., 2010;McAuley, 2010;Topitzes, Mersky & Reynolds, 2011) and is an aspect of the victim-offender overlap mentioned by Shaffer (2004). Entorf (2012) notes that the victim-offender overlap, although well documented and supported by robust evidence, is still not well understood and Shaffer (2004) asks what the causal connection might be between victimization and offending behaviour. Human lives are characterized by complex dynamic processes, requiring creative synthesis in the development of models of human behaviour as well as analysis of the existing evidence (Valsiner, 2007).…”

Juvenile offender as a crime victim

“…S druge strane, nalazi istraživanja pokazuju da pripadnost vršnjačkim grupama sa nasilnim članovima povećava rizik viktimizacije samo ako je adolescent uključen u kriminalne aktivnosti. Ukoliko adolescent nije prestupnik, druženje sa vršnjacima koji važe za "čvrste momke" obezbeđuje zaštitu od spoljnih pretnji i deluje na smanjivanje rizika viktimizacije (Shaffer, 2004).…”