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Article Summary

McIntyre, J. K., & Widom, C. S. (2011).
Childhood victimization and crime victimization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(4), 640–663. doi:10.1177/0886260510365868

The authors of the study explore the concept of revictimization, the phenomenon where individuals who have been victimized at one point in life will be victimized yet again. In particular, McIntyre and colleagues focus their attention on the relationship between childhood maltreatment and later crime victimization. They question whether abused and/or neglected children are more susceptible to subsequent crime victimization during adulthood. The authors hypothesize that such a relationship may not be direct, but may be mediated by elements that result from child maltreatment. These elements in turn may place an individual at risk for future crime victimization. They argue that child abuse and/or neglect can increase the risk of exposure to certain lifestyles that consequently may lead to greater risk of crime victimization. This study can be used as a practical resource for the development of prevention strategies by taking into account the future risks of physical and sexual crime victimization. The authors of the study used a sample from an existing dataset previously used for a large research project based on a cohort design study. The sample included 497 abused and/or neglected children matched with a comparison group of 395 nonabused and/or nonneglected children who were followed into adulthood. The cases for maltreatment had been retrieved from a Midwest metropolitan area’s juvenile and adult court records for 1967 through 1971. The cohort design assumes that the major difference between the abused and/or neglected and the comparison group is their experience of victimization. The first phase of the study involved comparing the two groups' juvenile and criminal arrest records. The second phase consisted of tracking and interviewing the abused and/or neglected and the comparison group 20 years after the reported incidents of abuse and neglect. The study found that childhood abuse and neglect were both predictors of physical and sexual crime victimization into mid-adulthood. Additionally, the findings showed that the relationship between childhood maltreatment and crime victimization is complex and varies by a person’s sex and ethnicity. Women who were abused in childhood were more likely to be at risk for sexual and physical crime victimization later in life. Results for men showed that childhood abuse increased their risk for sexual crime victimization but not physical crime victimization.