The present study addresses the determinants of cyberstalking perpetration within a sample of college students. Using self-report survey data collected from a large Southern university in fall 2016, a final sample of 1127 respondents were asked to report their history of both cyberstalking perpetration as well as cyberstalking victimization. This study explores cyberstalking perpetration, through the lens of low self-control, cyberstalking victimization experience, sexual compulsivity, sexual deception, and relationship status through logistic regression analyses and marginal effects. Findings suggest a relationship between cyberstalking perpetration and cyberstalking victimization across levels of self-control, where the strongest connection is among those the poorest self-control. Additionally, we explore differences between male and female respondents in their likelihood to engage in cyberstalking behavior, finding that women are more likely to offend particularly when exhibiting low self-control.

Students routinely attend classes and activities across college campuses and are exposed to a variety of places at different times. As such, students attempt to identify cues that signal risk in certain places so that they can attempt to avoid dangerous situations and engage in self-protective behaviors. The present study focuses on undergraduate students' perceptions of place-based risk on campus. Using responses from open-ended survey questions, we explore thematic responses surrounding risky locations on campus. Our findings suggest that several specific locations were identified as 'risky' and why. Implications for policy and practice are further discussed.

Prior research has demonstrated that bullying victimization is associated with numerous academic and behavioral consequences, including an increased likelihood of skipping school. However, the extent to which depressive symptoms and suicidality might intervene in the relationship between bullying and school refusal has received insufficient attention, and potential differences between females and males in these pathways remain underexplored. The current study analyzes data from the 2024 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey ( N = 29,748), which was administered to a statewide sample of public middle and high school students. The findings reveal that the influence of more frequent physical, verbal, and cyber bullying victimization on school refusal is partially indirect through internalizing symptoms. Especially noteworthy direct and indirect effects emerge among girls.

The current literature indicates that sexual violence against women (VAW) is chronically under-reported to law enforcement due to factors such as fear of retaliation, societal stigma, and practical obstacles. Using National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) incident-level data, this study examines changes in the reporting patterns of sexual VAW from 1992 to 2021. This period of focus is notable for significant and, at times, unprecedented societal shifts and legislative reforms. Our results suggest that there are three distinct time periods for sexual VAW reporting in the United States, each marked by various social and political movements. These results provide researchers and law enforcement practitioners alike with insights into the instability of shifts in the reporting of sexual VAW to the police, supporting changes in how reporting behaviors should be viewed over varying time periods.

The criteria used to identify the crime of stalking have been debated since the 1990s, with most definitions including a so-called "fear standard" as a form of harm experienced by victims. The current study takes the next logical step in this dialogue to examine the varied harms that victims of stalking experience. These analyses operationalize harm through the creation of a harm scale based on several dimensions of fear and emotional distress. By taking this approach and utilizing data from the National Crime Victimization Survey's Supplemental Victimization Survey, the current study identifies the extent of the harm suffered by stalking victims. Further, the determinants of harm following stalking victimization are identified. Finally, the present research examines the relationship between the invasiveness of the stalker's conduct and the harm experienced by victims, finding a positive relationship wherein more invasive encounters correspond with a greater degree of harm to victims.

The present study examines the association between fear of crime, low self-control, and the identification of risky places on a college campus. Based on self-report data from undergraduate students at a medium-sized Southern university collected during spring 2020, this research investigates how variations in self-control influence perceptions of campus safety. Fear of crime is quantified by aggregating individual perceptions regarding the relative risk of six different possible victimization outcomes while on campus. Our findings reveal that fear of crime and the total number of semesters enrolled are significant predictors of identifying risky places on campus. These results underscore the need for campus administrators to develop targeted safety measures and interventions that address areas perceived as risky by students. This study has important implications for understanding student perceptions of campus safety and informs future research, theoretical frameworks, and practical interventions aimed at enhancing campus security.

Prior research on crime hot spots has been mostly concerned with the analyses of cross-sectional data or short-term aggregations. Less research, however, has conducted longitudinal analyses on homicide hot spots and their dynamic behavior over time. The current study assessed 5 years of Chicago homicides (2016–2020) by police beats to explore how hot spots of homicides behave, with specific attention to durability. We find that Chicago homicides spatially and temporally cluster, with analysis suggesting the emergence of seasonal, short term, and long term “durable” hotspots in Chicago. Policy implications such as police interventions and community policing and problem-solving opportunities are discussed.

The “MeToo” movement has presented criminal justice and criminology instructors with an opportunity to discuss the sensitive topic of sexual violence in a manner that is contemporary and immediately relevant to students. Introducing #MeToo-related content keeps course material grounded in current justice. Yet, at the heart of many sensitive topics in criminal justice is victimization. As such, the “MeToo” movement and many criminal justice issues can be both complex and triggering for students. This topic has inherent risks for students (e.g. re-victimization) but, provide valuable tools for future criminal justice practitioners and thus is a beneficial component to criminal justice courses. Given the challenge that such a topic presents, the current study examines college students’ exposure and attitudes toward #MeToo content. Using original survey research, the current study finds that exposure to #MeToo-related content in the classroom significantly correlated with student views and attitudes toward the #MeToo movement.

Tests of criminological theory are conducted almost exclusively about urban spaces. In urban areas, rates of property and acquisitive crime are often tied to economic structural health through institutional anomie and market society theories. Examinations of the connection between economic structures and acquisitive crime in rural spaces are lacking in the literature. This study uses United States’ NCVS data from 1993-2005 examine trends in acquisitive crime over time from a macro level economic theoretical perspective in rural United States counties. Implications for additional rural theory tests will be addressed.

Existing research suggests that victimization risk is higher among urban residents. Violence against women is a notable exception in this trend. While the literature does indicate that rural women are at equal risk for violent victimization, it does not differentiate between types of non-urban spaces (exurbs, suburbs, small towns, dispersed rural). We use a five-category measure of rural-urban location articulated land use to disentangle victim–offender relationship distribution using a female victim sample from the 1996–2005 United States National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). In the most rural areas (dispersed rural locations), women are most likely to be victimized by friends or acquaintances. The proportion of women victimized by strangers in dispersed rural locations is very low. As urbanicity increases, so does the proportion of women victimized by strangers. The findings indicate that victim–offender relationships may be dictated by proximity. In dispersed rural locations, there are comparatively fewer people unknown to the victim than in central city locations. Consequently, proximity dictates that offenders in dispersed rural locations are unlikely to be strangers. The articulated land use measure ensures that the differences between types of rural and suburban locations are identified. Future research should consider the impact of proximity on rural victimization and increased specificity in rural measurements.

Given the disproportionately higher rates of stalking among sexual minority individuals, the present study aimed to explore factors that influence these victims’ help-seeking behaviors. Employing data from the United States’ 2019 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) Supplemental Victimization Survey (SVS), this study explores various demographic and psychological factors impacting help-seeking among sexual minority and heterosexual victims. Results indicate that sexual minority individuals are significantly more likely to seek help than heterosexual victims of stalking. Further exploration through logistic regression, limited to the sexual minority group, shows significant associations between help-seeking and age, sex, and emotional distress from stalking, but not race. Indicating that younger respondents, female respondents, and those experiencing an emotional impact are more likely to seek help for stalking victimization among sexual minority victims. These findings emphasize the importance of sexual orientation in understanding help-seeking behaviors among stalking victims, suggesting a need for more tailored support services for the sexual minority community.

The intersection of fear of crime and media consumption has been examined in urban environments extensively. However, like many aspects of criminal justice research, much less is known about these concepts in non-urban environments. Further, there is an assumption that the processes of how media will influence fear of crime will work similarly in non-urban environments. This question remains open to empirical examination. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between media consumption and fear of crime in a semi-rural environment. Using data collected via telephone survey, and conducted within a selected non-urban community, we examine the relationship between media consumption and fear of crime while controlling for a host of confounders. Results indicated that media consumption is related to fear of crime among this specialized sample. However, this relationship becomes nonsignificant once perceived disorder is introduced. Findings and implications are discussed.

A substantial body of victimization research has focused on college students as a unique population of crime victims. These studies generally suggest that college students have high rates of victimization for specific crimes. However, it is unclear to what extent college student status confers an increased victimization risk for students, relative to other risk factors, such as age and sex. This study utilizes a pooled sample of U.S. residents from the National Crime Victimization Survey (2017-2019) to examine three types of criminal victimization against persons age 18-24. College enrollment, and living on campus, are assessed as potential determinants of victimization risk. The results suggest complex relationships between these college variables and risks for criminal victimization, with college enrollment and campus living increasing or decreasing the likelihood of victimization depending on the crime.

The current research utilized the National Crime Victimization Survey Supplemental Victimization Survey to investigate stalking in the United States. These data, collected from stalking victims, address the relationship between victims' perceptions of the stalker's motives on two post-victimization outcomes. Specifically, we examined the relationship between the victim's assessment of motive and the degree of harm they reported, along with exploring the relationship between harm and the likelihoods of engaging in self-protective behaviors. Here, harm was measured through an index of specific fears, concerns, and emotional distresses. We found that the frequency of stalking behaviors, the duration of the stalking experience, and the overall invasiveness of the victimization, in addition to certain motives, were positively correlated with harm. Furthermore, we found that harm was positively correlated with a number of protective actions. For researchers, this work may serve to provide entry points in the development of new grounded theory. For practitioners in law enforcement, this work may provide insights into the invasive nature of stalking and the fear and harm caused to the victim.

Extant research has argued that there are variations in predictors of intimate partner violence (IPV) across nations and it is necessary to examine country-specific correlates of IPV. Much remains unknown about factors that affect risk of IPV in transitional countries. Specifically, we explore risk factors for IPV among four former nations of the Soviet Union-Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Moldova-with data from the nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys. Rates of physical abuse were similar within Tajikistan (18.96%) and Moldova (18.38%), while Kyrgyzstan (20.62%) had the highest prevalence and Azerbaijan (9.29%) had the lowest prevalence. In contrast, the prevalence of sexual abuse was very similar across the four countries and was much lower (between 1.00% and 3.50%) than cross-national estimates of physical abuse. Findings suggest that many of the same risk factors of IPV in developing and developed nations influence risk of IPV in transitional nations. Across the four former Soviet nations included in analyses, the experience of controlling behaviors, husband's alcohol use, and witnessing IPV or experiencing abuse during childhood were all significantly associated with risk of physical and sexual abuse later in life. Indeed, the intergenerational transmission of violence may be a cross-national phenomenon. In addition, equality in decision making did not have an effect on risk of physical and sexual violence, except for risk of physical abuse in Moldova. This may be due to the historical context of these nations. Taken together, findings suggest that country context may influence individual risk factors of IPV.

Although all stakeholders agree that schools must be safe places to learn, there are discrepancies among researchers, policy makers, and the general public about what constitutes school safety, and how best to accomplish the goal of making schools safe. This article reviews what we have learned about components of school safety by examining trends in school disorder and crime in schools from multiple nationally representative samples and surveys. The importance of context and climate are considered, followed by a discussion of what has been learned about promoting school safety in the past decade, focusing on the balance of physical and psychological safety. Finally, this article examines implications and directions for the future of school safety. Impact Statement This article critically reviews research on physical safety and security measures and the evidence base focusing on psychological safety, highlighting the importance of a balanced approach in efforts to promote physical and psychological safety, with particular emphasis on the role of school context and school climate. Empirically informed recommendations to promote school safety include implementing tiered social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health supports, preparing school personnel, and school safety planning and preparedness initiatives. This article features the science that should inform both practice and policies to advance school safety.

The current study examines identity fraud victimization within a college student sample. Concepts from the lifestyle-routine activity approach, specifically exposure and proximity to motivated offenders, as well as the personality trait of low self-control, are examined as potential explanations for identity fraud. The knock-on relationship between hacking and identity fraud is also of interest. Using data from a sample of college students at a Midwestern university in the U.S., and structural equation modeling techniques, the findings suggest that peer deviance, low self-control, and hacking victimization are directly related to identity fraud, whereas the relationship between personal deviance and identity fraud victimization operates indirectly through hacking. Overall, the results support lifestyle-routine activities and low self-control as theoretical explanations of identity fraud victimization.

The current study examines country-specific risk factors of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization among Guatemalan and Honduran women. More specifically, we examine if (in)equality between partners, experience of controlling or emotionally abusive behavior, and components of the intergenerational transmission of violence significantly affect the risk of lifetime IPV victimization for Guatemalan ( N = 5,645) and Honduran women ( N = 9,427). We address this by analyzing both the 2014 to 2015 Guatemala Demographic and Health Survey and the 2011 to 2012 Honduras Demographic and Health Survey. Results suggest that equality between partners operates differently across the two nations, which is likely related to social norms in each country. In particular, having more decisional input is a protective factor against IPV victimization for Guatemalan women. Increased educational attainment, however, is a risk factor for IPV victimization among Honduran women. Implications, especially as they pertain to social service agencies and programming, are discussed.

This work uses original survey research to explore the nature of risky behaviors and exposure to potential offenders using social media as a means to initiate personal relationships. During fall 2016, instructors at a large university were recruited to conduct paper and pencil classroom surveys, resulting in a sample of 1310 undergraduate students. Their results first suggest that nearly all sampled students use social media and that half of college students use social media to meet new people. Alarmingly, similar to 1 in 10 students disclosed personal information about themselves within 24 h of making initial contact with someone online. Furthermore, 1 in 20 young people chose to meet in person within 24 h of first contact. Among the survey respondents over 10% reported being a victim of stalking, cyberstalking, or sexual victimization resulting from a perpetrator they initially met on social media. The authors discuss these findings through a lifestyle-routine activity theory lens and explore the implications for understanding victimization risk.

The present study investigates the physical and emotional consequences of suffering an identity-related criminal victimization. In addition to reporting the extent and nature of these consequences, the present research also examines the potential determinants of the physical harms victims suffer following identity theft. Data from an analytic sample of 2,299 victims of identity theft from the U.S. National Crime Victimization Survey are analyzed, and results suggest that identity theft victimization produces consequences beyond the financial. Physical ailments and new medical conditions are often reported as a result of the crime. Further, several features of the incident were significantly related to whether victims experienced these harms, as were personal characteristics of the victim. These findings suggest that responses to identity-related victimizations - beyond financial remedies - should be considered by victims, practitioners, and policymakers.