Whatever happened to repeat victimisation?

Abstract

Crime is concentrated at the individual level (hot dots) as well as at area level (hot spots). Research on repeat victimisation affords rich prevention opportunities but has been increasingly marginalised by UK policy makers and implementers despite repeat victims accounting for increasing proportions of total crime. The present paper advocates a resurgence of interest in research and initiatives based on the prevention of repeat victimisation.

A comparative analysis to forecast apartment burglaries in Vienna, Austria, based on repeat and near repeat victimization

“…According to the “flag” account (e.g. Pease 1998 ) it is assumed that the risk of victimization is time-stable but unevenly distributed. The idea, in the context of residential burglary, is that there are some general characteristics associated with properties that attract (different) offenders and, therefore, that homes that possess these characteristics will be repeatedly victimized.…”

“…Repeat victimization occurs when a person or property is victimized multiple times, whereas “near repeats” are said to have occurred when offenses occur at locations near to those recently victimized (Morgan 2001 ). Studies, including interviews with offenders, show that once a crime occurs, it is likely that the same offender will return to repeat crimes at or close to the initial target (Ericsson 1995 ; Pease 1998 ; Weisel 2005 ; Summers et al 2010 ; Johnson et al 2009 ). It also shows that repeat victimization, when it occurs, tends to happen shortly after an initial crime event (e.g., Polvi et al 1991 ), but that the risk of repeat victimization decreases in the weeks after the initial event (Ratcliffe 2009 ).…”

Victimization, Social Structure and Psychosocial Variables: The Case of Spain in 1999 and 2016

“…Moreover, other international studies and theorists present the same trends in Western countries (Tonry 2014;Hunter and Tseloni 2016;Ignatans and Pease 2016, etc.). For example, Ignatans and Pease (2016) examine the changed distribution of crime across households in England and Wales, which mirrors the crime drop common to Western countries in the last two decades and explain that crime is being concentrated at the individual level (hot dots) as well as at area level (hot spots) (Pease et al 2018). The evolution of the sociodemographic profiles of those who have experienced a crime in recent months between one survey and the other allows us to confirm which variables are significantly associated with victimization and to determine whether this has varied in the long term.…”

Choosing and Using Statistical Sources in Criminology: What Can the Crime Survey for England and Wales Tell Us?

“…Population-based empirically evidenced theories (utilising crime survey data) have informed crime prevention policy interventions, such as those directing resources and police protection to repeat victims (Pease 1998; Pease and Tseloni 2014). Police analysts now routinely try to identify repeat victims within police recorded crime statistics.…”