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MODEL ACADEMIC CURRICULUM

MODULE 12

Responding to Targets/Victims

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Module 12 Topics

• Analyzing Repeat Victimization

• Understanding Your Local Repeat Victimization Pattern

• Responding to Repeat Victimization

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Victim (SITTING DUCK) Problems

• Repeat victimization - victims repeatedly attacked by different offenders.

• SITTING DUCK problems occur when victims continually interact with potential offenders at different places, but the victims do not increase their precautionary measures and their guardians are either absent or ineffective.

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Victim (SITTING DUCK) Problems

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Overlooking Repeat Victimization Consider a 1990 study of 10,828 reported burglaries:• 97% of 300,000 addresses were not burglarized• Only 3% of the addresses (8,116) were burglarized

At first, repeat victimization appears minimal:• 82% of the victims (6,616 addresses) suffered only one

burglary during the year • 18% of victims (1,500 addresses) suffered two or more

Analysis sheds further light on repeat victimization:• 61% of all burglaries (6,616) occurred at addresses with

only one offense• 39% of all burglaries (4,212) occurred at addresses with two

or more offenses

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80-20 Rule and Repeat Victimization

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The Extent of Repeat Victimization

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Two Explanations for Repeat Victimization

• Boost Explanations – repeat victimization reflects the successful outcome of an initial offense. Specific offenders gain important knowledge about a target from prior experience and use this information to re-offend.

• Flag Explanations – some targets are unusually attractive to criminals or particularly vulnerable to crime.

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Types of Repeat Victimization

• True repeat victims

• Near victims

• Virtual repeats

• Chronic victims

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Where Repeat Victimization Occurs

• Repeat victimization is most common in high crime areas.

• Persons and places in high crime areas face a greater risk of initial victimization and they may lack the means to block a subsequent victimization.

• In high crime areas, crime is so concentrated among repeat victims that recurring offenses can create hot spots - relatively small geographic areas in which victims are clustered.

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When Repeat Victimization Occurs

• Repeat victimization is sometimes most likely to occur very soon after the initial victimization (particularly for financially-based crimes).

• For example, studies suggest that the chances of repeated burglary of homes increases in the year following the initial burglary

• This may reflect an “insurance effect” whereby the thieves return to steal property that was recently replaced by insurance companies.

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Linking Repeat Victimization to Other Crime Patterns

• Hot spots

• Hot products

• Repeat Offenders

• Crime series

• Risky Facilities

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Special Concerns

• Blaming the victim

• Increasing fearfulness

• Violating privacy of victims

• Displacing crime

• Unintended consequences

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Understanding The Local Repeat Victimization Pattern

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Selecting Data

• Determining the appropriate time frame

• Determining data sufficiency

• Choosing a denominator

• Identifying key variables

• Determining data limitations

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Analysis Tasks

• Mapping Locations

• Sorting offense data by address

• Sorting offense data by victim name

• Counting victims and offenses

• Cleaning data

• Calculating time course

• Calculating rate

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Planning Further Analyses

• Collecting additional information

• Examining victim-suspect relationships

• Determining the role of boosts

• Comparing victims and non-victims

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Responding to Repeat Victimization

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Three Primary Responses

1) Protecting victims by blocking future opportunities against these specific persons or places

2) Shifting responsibility for repeat victimization

3) Increasing actual or perceived risks of apprehension for offenders, primarily for repeat offenders

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1) Protecting Victims

• Quickly blocking visual signs of victimization

• Improving physical security

• Target hardening

• Rapidly blocking access to targets

• Removing or protecting targets

• Regulating or controlling access

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2) Shifting Responsibility for Repeat Victimization

• Educating victims or removing excuses for risky behaviors

• Changing management practices

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3) Increasing Risks to Offenders

• Temporarily increasing surveillance

• Reducing rewards

• Monitoring repeat victimization

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The “Olympic” Response toRepeat Victimization

• The risk of repeat victimisation increases with further victimisation.

• Olympic System - first-time victims received a Bronze response, two-time victims received a Silver response, and victims of three or more crimes received a Gold response.

• The Gold response was the most sophisticated, requiring the most resources, but promising the greatest preventive returns.

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Measuring Effectiveness

• Reduction in the number or frequency of reported incidents

• Reduction in the proportion of repeat offenses

• Reduction in the number or frequency of calls for service

• Reduction in repeat calls for service

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Measuring Effectiveness

• Reduction in the proportion of repeat victims

• Reduction in completed offenses

• Reduction of value of property taken or harm associated with offenses

• Increase in arrests associated with offenses suffered by repeat victims

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Exercise 1

• Using the 25 Techniques, provide one example for each technique and describe how it could be used to respond to targets/victims.

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Exercise 2

• You’re a victim! Evaluate your daily activities, lifestyle, and living environment. Drawing from the readings, discuss your vulnerability to victimization and re-victimization (be specific in explaining what crime types and why).

• Next, identify what measures you should take to reduce your vulnerability. You should consider previous literature on opportunity crime and situational and environmental prevention.

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Exercise 3Keep a Crime Prevention Log

For the next week, keep a daily log of all the activities/behaviors you engage in to reduce crime or the perception of crime opportunity. Use the following format:

Day Time Location Behavior To Prevent

• Tuesday 7pm Parking lot Locked car Theft from vehicle

Auto theft

• Tuesday 10pm FAU Parking lot Walked with Assaultfellow student to parking lot

• Wednesday 10am Gardens Mall Got keys out of Assaultpurse 20 feetbefore vehicle

• Turn in a list of entries for these seven days. This can be hand written or typed. Really pay attention to your actions in order to document ALL crime prevention behavior. You will be graded on the format, quantity, and quality of your entries.