Costs of Victimization

This chapter surveys existing research about the causes and consequences of criminal victimization. It emphasizes the empirical challenges faced by researchers in studying such questions and highlights studies that put forth research designs that can credibly disentangle correlation from causation. This chapter is organized into three sections. First, it reviews the correlates and/or causes of victimization, and highlights the role of alcohol, exposure, and precautionary behavior. The second part discusses the impact of direct exposure to victimization on individual outcomes, including physical health, mental health and well-being, labor market outcomes, changes in behavior, and the victim-offender overlap. Finally, the third part highlights the consequences of indirect exposure to crime (i.e., not being a victim oneself) in the neighborhood and family. An overarching theme is that this is a young literature that has recently gained momentum in overcoming the limited availability of data capable of answering these important questions.