Teaching Victims Crime Prevention Skills: Can Individuals Lower their Risk of Crime?

Abstract

Data indicate that persons who become victims of crime run a higher than normal risk of becoming victims again. Because of their increased vulnerability to crime and their motivation to prevent future crimes, victims make an ideal population for training in crime prevention techniques. This paper describes an experiment in which victims were introduced to a crime prevention training program by having them first think about ways in which their victimization might have been prevented. Evidence suggests that the program achieved the intended results. It increased participants' knowledge of crime prevention principles and precautionary behaviors, and it reinforced the belief that victimization could be avoided. Nevertheless, the program had no significant effect on revictimization or on fear of crime.