Why does repeat victimisation occur?
The questions that crime & disorder reduction practitioners need to ask are:
repeat victims inherently vulnerable, and therefore equally attractive to all
potential offenders?
or
are they more vulnerable because they have been victimised once? This may be
because they are less secure (for example, the window which was forced has not been
repaired) or because the offender is now more familiar with the target (for example,
they know the layout of the shop and the value or availability of items to steal).
The following analogy illustrates this issue well.
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A sports team loses the first two matches of the season. Why did it lose the second
one? Was it because the first reflected the fact that it was a poor team, and it was
still a poor team at the time of second match? Alternatively, did the first result
destroy its confidence so that it played tentatively in the second match? What should
the coaches do? If the first explanation is correct, they should draft in new players
urgently. If the second explanation is correct, they should try to build the team’s
confidence.
From Repeat Victimisation: Taking Stock by Ken Pease 1998
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As the Impact on victims section suggests, the latter explanation is the
most likely answer. Many apparent inherently vulnerable victims have been victimised
for a long time in a variety of ways, and their current sequence of victimisation
is simply another manifestation of this.
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