Victim-Offender Dynamics in Violent Crime

A long held axiom of criminology is that in most societies crime prevention is primarily the responsibility of the citizenry and not the police. The study of victim-offender dynamics in violent crime is research of events which result either from a failure to prevent crime or a willingness to precipitate or participate in a criminal event. When prevention has failed, the decision to resist and the method of defense become important determinants of both the decision to invoke the criminal justice process and the criminal processing system's decisions to react to the crime. Thus, the perspective of the victim is probably more important for understanding the violent criminal event than either that of the police or courts. The major responsibility for crime prevention has historically been with the community and citizen, not with the crime processing system. If the study of victims of crime is to have a major effect on rates of crime, it may come through the enhancement of the ability of citizens to prevent crime and react to criminal events in a way which minimizes the resultant damage and injury to the victim.