PhD Dissertation Defense Margit Averdijk
On June 30th, Margit Averdijk succesfully defended her PhD thesis "Individuals' victimization patterns over time". The ceremony started at 3.45 pm in the Aula of the VU University Amsterdam. Promotor and co-promotor are Prof. dr. Gerben Bruinsma and Dr. Wim Bernasco.
The dissertation focuses on ‘longitudinal’ research of crime victimization, or research where individuals are followed over longer periods of their life. Prior research has shown that individuals who have been victimized have a relatively high risk of being victimized again. Why is this the case? Do victims not take prevention measures after victimization? Or are these measures not effective? These are the central questions of the dissertation. The first part of the dissertation discusses which longitudinal data sources are available and what their advantages and disadvantages are. The second part investigates whether the taking of prevention measures after victimization depends on the level of self-control of an individual. For individuals with high self-control, it is found that prior victimization of theft leads to less later victimization, but this is not the case for victimization of violence. The third part tests whether victims take preventive measures after victimization and whether these measures are successful. Both prove to be true only to a limited extent. The fourth part further investigates whether and why victims of several crime types do (not) take preventive measures after victimization. It is found that victims generally do not change their life extensively – except in case of salient crimes – but do often take less intrusive prevention measures that are limited to certain situations. For some victims, such measures may be sufficient to prevent future victimization. But for individuals for whom the high victimization risk is part of a risky social environment, such measures are unlikely to be sufficient.