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Commonalities and Overlap Between Victims and Offenders

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Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan

Abstract

The strong relationship between offending and victimization has now been firmly established over the past 80 years. Research from different time periods, across diverse locations, and on various samples indicates that offenders are more likely to be victims and vice-versa. However, there are some differences in the strength of this relationship, particularly over the life course. This chapter will introduce the foundations of the victim-offender overlap, discuss recent empirical evidence on the overlap, consider the victimization-offending relationship over the life course, and review challenges for future research.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA

    Chad Posick

  2. Department of Psychology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA

    Kalynn C. Gruenfelder

Authors
  1. Chad Posick
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  2. Kalynn C. Gruenfelder
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chad Posick .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma, Alliant International University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert Geffner

  2. School of Health and Human Sciences, University of North Carolina at Greensbo, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Jacquelyn W. White

  3. Dept of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    L. Kevin Hamberger

  4. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Alan Rosenbaum

  5. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Education and Research, Zero Abuse Project, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Victor I. Vieth

Section Editor information

  1. School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA

    Michael B. Greene Ph.D.

  2. Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA

    Robert L. Johnson

  3. University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Jacquelyn White

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Posick, C., Gruenfelder, K.C. (2020). Commonalities and Overlap Between Victims and Offenders. In: Geffner, R., White, J.W., Hamberger, L.K., Rosenbaum, A., Vaughan-Eden, V., Vieth, V.I. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62122-7_107-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62122-7_107-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62122-7

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