Victim-Offender Overlap

Victim-Offender Overlap & The Cycle of Violence

Berg, M. T., & Mulford, C. F. (2020). Reappraising and Redirecting Research on the Victim–Offender Overlap. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 21(1), 16–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838017735925
- Focuses on interpersonal violence.
- Uses the terms “victim” and “offender”.

Victim-offender overlap is a robust and substantial phenomenon in criminology.
- Observed across locations and demographics, particularly for violence, young men, and people of color (Godsoe, 2021).
“[N]o one enters violence for the first time by committing it.“ - Danielle Sered
People who have experienced trauma, abuse, and pain are more likely to inflict harm on others.
Victims and offenders are often thought of as two distinct groups, needing different interventions.

Victim-Offender Overlap: The witnessing or direct victimization of and perpetration of psychological and physical violence, in either direction (Berg & Schreck, 2022; Berkley et al., 2018; Reingle, 2014).
Cycle of Violence: A cyclical pattern where an individual experiences violent victimization and goes on to commit acts of violence themselves (Samuels, 2001; Widom, 1992).
Violence: Intentional and direct physical violence intended to injure, impair, or kill (Dahlberg & Krug, 2002; Thompson & Tapp, 2022).
- Some studies include witnessing, psychological or sexual violence, and other types of abuse/neglect (e.g., ACEs, trauma/PTSD).

Perhaps:

Victimization leads a person to develop “risk factors” for offending or to act violently in self-defense (i.e., to the person who used violence against them).
Offending leads a person to situations/environments (e.g., prison, gangs) where they are more likely to be victims.
There are risk factors (e.g., impulsivity, hostility, drug and alcohol use, environments) that make a person more vulnerable to both victimization and offending.

“Trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being” (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2012, p. 2).
Trauma can manifest as hypervigilance and over-reactivity to perceived threats, or as numbness and flat affect.
- These responses are often misinterpreted by law enforcement as a lack of empathy or remorse (Godsoe, 2021, p. 1329).

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) = potentially traumatic events during childhood that are linked to detrimental long-term health outcomes, mental illness, and substance use, etc.
“… those with four or more ACEs were 15 times more likely to have committed an act of violence during the last 12 months” (Jahanshsahi et al., 2021).
Impact is cumulative - “Each additional ACE increased the odds of becoming a victim-offender, compared to a victim-only or an offender-only, by approximately 12%” (Arseneault et al., 2018).