Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Analysing repeat victimisation

This guide is intended as a tool to help police identify and understand patterns of repeat victimisation for a range of crime and disorder problems. The guide focuses on techniques for determining the amount of RV for specific public safety problems and how analysis of RV generally may be used to develop more effective responses.

Title: Analysing repeat victimisation
Author: Deborah Lamm Weisel
Series: US Dept Justice COPS Problem-Solving Tools Series #4
Date published: October 2005
Number of pages: 80
Availability: Download full report PDF 508Kb

For decades, much effort by police and citizens has been invested in crime prevention—such as marking property, establishing a Neighbourhood Watch, conducting crime prevention surveys, hardening targets, increasing lighting, and installing electronic security systems. While numerous crime prevention efforts are effective, many are adopted by persons, households, and institutions least at risk of being victimised. Crime prevention strategies are most effective when directed at those most likely to be victimised.

Linking crime prevention strategies with likely victims is a challenge because of the difficulty in predicting the most likely victims of crime. Taking steps to prevent that offense from occurring would be easier, if only police knew…

• What shops will be robbed?

• Whose homes will be burgled?

• Which students will be sexually assaulted?

It is often painfully obvious that some individuals, households, or businesses are particularly vulnerable to crime. Such vulnerability may be related to factors such as abusing alcohol, failing to secure property, being physically isolated, engaging in risky behaviours, or being in close proximity to pools of likely offenders.

While most people and places do not get victimised by crime, those who are victimised consistently face the highest risk of being victimised again. Previous victimisation is the single best predictor of victimisation. It is a better predictor of future victimisation than any other characteristic of crime.

Not only is repeat victimisation predictable, the time period of likely revictimisation can be calculated since subsequent offences are consistently characterized by their rapidity. Much repeat victimisation occurs within a week of an initial offence, and some repeat victimisation even occurs within 24 hours.

Across all crime types, the greatest risk of revictimisation is immediately after the initial offence, and this period of heightened risk declines steadily in the following weeks and months.

The predictability of repeat victimisation and the short time period of heightened risk after the first victimisation provide a very specific opportunity for police to intervene quickly to prevent subsequent offences. Strategies to reduce revictimisation can substantially increase the effectiveness of police. Reducing repeat victimisation can result in lower crime, improved efficiency of crime prevention resources, and the apprehension of offenders. It can also conserve both patrol and investigative resources.

The full guide walks practitioners through the response to a potential repeat victimisation problem, from selecting and analysing data through planning and selecting an appropriate response to measuring effectiveness.

Getting a copy

Download Analysing repeat victimisation from the COPS website PDF 508Kb

Repeat victimisation statistics

Estimates of Repeat Victimisation (International Victimisation Survey)

Offence	Repeat Offences
Sexual assault	46%
Assault	41%
Robbery	27%
Vandalism to vehicle	25%
Theft from vehicle	21%
Vehicle theft	20%
Burglary	17%

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Period of revictimisation

Offense	Proportion of Repeats by Time Period	Where/Study
Domestic violence	15% within 24 hours 35% within five weeks	Merseyside, England
Bank robbery	33% within three months	England
	25% within a week 51% within a month	Tallahassee, Florida
Residential burglary	11% within one week 33% within one month	Merseyside, England
Non-residential burglary	17% within one week 43% within one month	Merseyside, England
Property crime at schools	70% within a month	Merseyside, England

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Last update: 19 October 2005