Exploring the relationship between age and victimisation risk

Abstract

Extensive research has examined the relationship between age and offending, which is reflected in the established age-crime curve. The age-crime curve shows that offending typically rises during adolescence, peaks in late adolescence, and declines through the twenties and beyond. But less attention has been given to investigating age-related patterns of victimisation. Therefore, in this thesis we1 sought to answer two research questions. First, is there an age-victimisation curve comparable to the well-established age-crime curve? Second, if present, does the age-victimisation curve differ across broad crime categories (property vs interpersonal crime)? To answer these questions, we analysed data from two main sources – the New Zealand Recorded Crime Victims Statistics (RCVS) and the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS). We plotted both the frequency and rates of victimisation across age using line graphs. For both our research questions, we found that there were age-victimisation curves that mirrored the age-crime curve for the RCVS samples, but not necessarily for our NZCVS samples. Generally, our research showed that the rate and frequency of victimisation increases from teenage years well into people’s twenties, before decreasing as age increases. However, the NZCVS samples showed a gradual decline rather than a discernible curve, with some spikes around middle adulthood. Future research should use longitudinal data to better understand the distribution of victimisation over the life-course and examine the age of onset of victimisation to inform targeted prevention and intervention efforts.