Statistics Canada
www.statcan.gc.ca
Common menu bar links
Victims of multiple incidents of violent victimization
Three out of five violent incidents (60%) were experienced by less than 2% of the population. Compared to other types of crime, sexual assaults are more often committed by someone known to the victim (Brennan and Taylor-Butts, 2008), which may place those victims at greater risk of multiple victimization (Lamn, 2005). For example, results from the survey found that over one third (37%) of sexual assault victims (which include forced sexual activity as well as unwanted sexual touching) reported being victimized more than once during the 12 months preceding the survey. Among those respondents that were victims of robbery, a smaller proportion of these victims (20%) reported being a victim of at least one other robbery during the past 12 months.
Women were more likely to have experienced more than one sexual assault than experiencing multiple victimizations of any other type of crime, with 7 women out of 1,000 reporting being sexually assaulted on multiple occasions during the previous 12 month period. For men, a larger proportion had been the victim of more than one assault, with 12 men out of 1,000 experiencing more than one assault during the previous 12 month period compared to 6 women out of 1,000.
Certain groups are at greater risk of being violently victimized1
Research results show that some individuals are more at risk of being victimized (Gannon and Mihorean, 2005; Menard, 2000). According to the General Social Survey (GSS) data, characteristics such as youth, being single, frequently going out in the evening, Aboriginal status and alcohol consumption are factors associated with a greater risk of victimization.
Table 2 provides a breakdown of several socio-demographic characteristics, and shows the proportion of persons who were not victimized or who were violently victimized once or multiple times.
For example, almost 10% of people aged 15 to 34 years reported being a victim of at least one violent crime and 3% indicated they had been victimized more than once, while this is the case for a smaller proportion of persons aged 35 to 54 (3.7% victimized and 1.2% victimized more than once). Similarly, single people are at greater risk of victimization, with 11% of single people being victims of at least one violent crime and 3.6% being victimized more than once, compared to 2.6% of people in a married or common-law union reporting being victimized at least once and 0.9% reporting more than one victimization.
Table 2 Characteristics of violent crime victims, by number of victimization incidents, 2004
No one factor distinguishes multiple victimization from single victimization
Even if certain socio-demographic characteristics are associated with victimization, it seems less evident that these characteristics are associated with a greater risk of being a victim multiple times. In effect, for each of the characteristics presented in Table 2, between 25% to 40% of victims had been victims of multiple violent incidents.
Due to the fact that Table 2 presents each characteristic independently from the others, a multivariate analysis was conducted to see if, when all the factors are taken into consideration, certain characteristics had an influence on multiple victimization.
A logistic regression was conducted to compare persons who had been victims of a violent crime only once during the 12 months preceding the survey to those who had been victims more than once. When all the factors were kept constant, no characteristic was significant. These results indicate that the risk factors for multiple victimization are the same as for victimization in general. In brief, if a person is at greater risk of being a victim of a crime, that person will, in the same way, be at greater risk of being victimized multiple times.
In fact, considering that 5% of the population reported being the victim of a violent crime, and a third of these had been victimized more than once, the best predictor of multiple victimization is being a victim the first time.
Text box 3
Spousal violence and stalking are not always isolated events
In addition to measuring the nature and extent of criminal victimization, the GSS measured the prevalence of spousal violence and stalking through separate modules.
Results from the 2004 survey revealed that in the majority of violent spousal relationships, the violence was not an isolated incident. Over half (54%) of those who self-reported spousal violence in a current or previous relationship had experienced violence on more than one occasion over the past five years.
Women were more likely to have experienced repeated violence than men (57% versus 49%) and were also more likely to report that they had been the targets of more than 10 violent incidents at the hands of their partner2 (21% versus 11%).3
The survey also revealed that victims of multiple incidents of spousal violence had a higher prevalence of stalking than one-time victims and non-victims over the course of the five years leading up to the 2004 survey. In fact, 26% of those who reported multiple incidents of spousal violence also reported stalking incidents compared to 13% of one-time victims and 6% of non-victims.4
Notes
- Incidences of sexual assault and assault committed by the spouse, common-law partner, ex-spouse or ex-partner are excluded from this analysis.
- Includes both current and previous partners/spouses.
- Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2005, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.
- Even though stalking is considered a Criminal Code offence, a 'non-victim' is someone who has not experienced at least one of the Criminal Code offences as defined in Text box 1 over the preceding 12-month period.
