The Link Between Victimization and Misconduct in Prison Inmates: The Influence of Importation, Deprivation, and Low Self-Control Factors

Abstract

There has been limited study of the link between victimization and the criminal offense in the correctional context, despite the extensive literature supporting the overlap of victims and offenders in the general population. In this study, 2,880 inmates in 12 institutional correction facilities in Taiwan were examined to explore the common factors of the victim–offender overlap, guided by the importation, deprivation, and low self-control theories. The results of bivariate probit regression analysis revealed the presence of the victim–offender phenomenon in Taiwanese inmates. Specifically, the inmates who had experienced violent victimization in childhood and those who held negative perceptions of corrections staff and management tended to be both victims and offenders as measured by various types of prison misconduct and victimization. The results also showed that importation and deprivation factors have similar explanatory power for both misconduct and victimization, and low self-control has greater explanatory power for misconduct than for victimization.