Criminal victimization during one's life course: The effects of previous victimization and patterns of routine activities

Abstract

This study focuses on the effects of previous victimization and patterns of routine activities on the risk of falling victim to seven types of crime: sexual offense, assault, threat, burglary, personal larceny, car theft and bicycle theft. To examine these effects' individual life-course data on marital, fertility, residential, educational, employment and criminal histories were related to histories of criminal victimization. These data derived from a nationally representative survey administered in the Netherlands in 1996 to 1,939 individuals age 15 years or older. Logistic multilevel models were used in the analysis of the data. The results of the analyses suggest that individuals who have once been victims suffer a substantial higher risk of subsequent victimization. This effect of previous victimization can partly be explained by a real effect of previous victimization (state dependence), but more largely by the effects of patterns of routine activities (heterogeneity in the population).