Diederik Cops

Usual suspects, ideal victims and vice versa: The relationship between youth offending and victimization and the mediating influence of risky lifestyles

The fact that young people report disproportionately high levels of offending has resulted in substantial criminological attention to the topic of young people as offenders. However, we tend to forget that victims of those young delinquents are largely young people as well. Moreover, not only are young people overrepresented in both offender and victim populations, there are equally remarkable similarities between the two populations. Despite the generally accepted homogeneity in victim and offender characteristics and their respective risk factors, little theory-driven empirical research has been conducted in an attempt to further explain this overlap. This study tries to fill this gap by focusing on the relationship between offending and victimization in a large sample of young people in the Brussels Capital Region (N = 2070). More specifically, the influence of risky lifestyles on the relationship between offending and victimization is studied in order to test the assumption that the offending–victimization overlap is in reality the result of the convergence in time and space of (groups of potential) offenders and victims.

Worrying about the future and fear of crime among young adults: a social psychological approach

This article builds on recent insights in the fear of crime research tradition which tackle the poor theoretical substructure of most studies on this topic. Recent advances have acknowledged that both a social psychological approach and the interpretation of fear of crime as a ‘sponge’, absorbing more abstract and fundamental concerns about ones place in society, are essential elements to improve the understanding of this complex and multifaceted phenomenon. In this contribution, these suggestions, expressed in the relationship between more general worries about the personal future and fear of crime, are implemented and tested in a sample of Flemish young adults (N=1121) aged 19 to 24 years. The results demonstrate the potential of combining both perspectives in the study of the determinants of fear of crime in the often neglected social category of young people.

The role of autonomous mobility in public space on fear of crime among adolescents

Despite their pivotal role in public discourse and research on fear of crime, knowledge on fear of crime among young people remains limited, as they are mostly seen as (primary) causes of fear. In this study, the impact of the frequency of autonomous presence (thus without formal adult supervision) in public space on fear of crime in a representative sample of 14- to 19-year-old Flemish (Belgian) adolescents is investigated. In contrast with traditional research, and using Goffmans concept of ‘novelty’ in the explanation of fear arousal, we interpret differences in routine behaviours as a cause, and not merely as a consequence of fear of crime, as in most traditional research. Both regression analysis and structural equation modelling are used to determine the effect of autonomous presence on fear of crime and the factors which influence the extent of autonomous presence in public space. More specifically, the potential impact of neighbourhood, parental and peer related variables are studied. The results suggest that a more frequent presence in public space is related to a lower fear of crime and that several variables not only influence fear of crime directly, but equally indirectly, through their impact on the extent of autonomous presence in public space.

School vs. mail surveys: Disentangling selection and measurement effects in self-reported juvenile delinquency

Knowledge on both the prevalence of and the risk factors for juvenile delinquency rely almost exclusively on data generated by self-report research. However, several errors can occur during the process of data gathering, all of which may have an impact on the validity and reliability of the results. This has become more apparent as self-report data on (juvenile) delinquency are increasingly being used to assess the prevalence of delinquency in society. In this article we try to determine how different administration modes may result in different results with regard to the prevalence of juvenile delinquency being reported as well as the predictors of delinquent behaviour. In order to decide whether these differences can be seen as mode effects, the possible influence of selection effects – or differences in the sample population – must be controlled for. For this aim, the technique of case-control matching is used to match the samples of a mail survey and a school survey, both administered on a representative sample of Flemish youth attending secondary education. Using the technique of case-control matching, we aim to control for differences in non-response error, in order to disentangle non-response effects from effects related to administration mode.

The position of young people in community safety: a search for possible explanations

In the rhetoric and practice of community safety a paradox can be identified: despite the rhetoric of inclusivity and active citizenship, it appears that the views and interests of youth are largely ignored. Young people appear largely as a source of danger and fear of crime, leading to policy measures aimed at controlling and containing youth. There are four possible reasons for this: crime victim survey characteristics; a lack of political interest; youth as the inverse of the ‘ideal victim’; and young people as social scapegoats.