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Wages of Sin? The Link Between Offending, Lifestyle and Violent Victimisation

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Abstract

In this study the authors examine whether there is a link between offending and violent victimisation. They explore the extent to which this link can be explained by differences in people's lifestyle. In keeping with recent criminological developments, they seek to explain differences in the risk of violent victimisation throughout peoples life course. For this purpose, data has been analysed on the past 25 years in the lives of 1,939 respondents, who constituted a representative sample of the Dutch population in 1996. The data was taken from the Netherlands Survey of Criminality and Law Enforcement. For each year of their life, data were recorded on the respondents' marital, fertility, residential, educational and employment history. What is more, for each year in this period, data are available on their violent victimisation and their offending. The data was analysed with multi-level models. The results show that people who engage in violent crimes and vandalism are at greater risk of being victims than people who do not and that this relationship can only be partially explained by lifestyle.

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Authors
  1. Karin Wittebrood
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  2. Paul Nieuwbeerta
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Wittebrood, K., Nieuwbeerta, P. Wages of Sin? The Link Between Offending, Lifestyle and Violent Victimisation. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 7, 63–80 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008736114804

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