Kathleen A. Fox

Protection Against Pursuit: A Conceptual and Empirical Comparison of Cyberstalking and Stalking Victimization Among a National Sample

Cyberstalking is a relatively understudied area in criminology, with no consensus among scholars as to whether it represents a modified form of stalking or whether it is an entirely new and emerging criminal phenomenon. Using data from the 2006 Supplemental Victimization Survey (SVS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), this study compares stalking and cyberstalking victims across several dimensions, including situational features of their experiences and self-protective behaviors. Results indicate that there are significant differences between stalking and cyberstalking victims, including their number of self-protective behaviors adopted, duration of contact with their stalker, financial costs of victimization, and perceived fear at onset. Perceived fear over time, the occurrence of a physical attack, and sex of the victim were all associated with a higher number of self-protective behaviors for cyberstalking victims compared to stalking victims, net of the effect of the control variables. Implications for stalking theory, research, and criminal justice policy are discussed.

Understanding Gang Membership and Crime Victimization Among Jail Inmates: Testing the Effects of Self-Control

Although previous research has examined factors related to gang membership and offending, research on the relationship between gangs and victimization is limited. The present study builds on previous research and examines gang membership, victimization, and self-control among 2,414 jail inmates. Results from self-report surveys indicate that gang members are more likely than nonmembers to be victimized by property and personal crimes. Among nongang members, those with lower self-control are more likely to be victimized by property and personal crime. Among gang members, lower self-control is associated with personal crime victimization whereas higher self-control is related to property crime victimization. Overall, gang members are victimized more than nongang members, and self-control is an important factor for victimization among gang and nongang members.

Assessing Stalking Behaviors in a Control Balance Theory Framework

Tittle’s control balance theory is a modern exemplar of theoretical integration premised on the ratio of perceived control exerted versus control subjected, which predicts the probability of deviant acts. Although the theory offers promise for contextualizing both perpetration and victimization, relatively few empirical tests have been conducted to date. This study describes stalking as a crime representing a unique manifestation of power dynamics and perceived control imbalances for both offenders and victims. Using a large college student sample, we assess the empirical associations between control balance and stalking perpetration and victimization outcomes, including gender-specific models, featuring several different operationalizations of the control balance ratio. Results suggest partial support for the theory, demonstrating that control surpluses are associated with stalking perpetration among men, while control deficits are associated with stalking perpetration and victimization among women, net of controls. Implications for control balance theory and stalking research are discussed.

Community and Campus Crime: A Geospatial Examination of the Clery Act

Despite the provisions of the Clery Act, which requires institutional reporting of crime on college campuses, patterns of campus crime have received surprisingly little research attention to date. Furthermore, few studies have described the extent to which college students engage in criminal behaviors. This study examines the criminality of students and nonstudents on the campus of a large southeastern university. To assess the effectiveness of the Clery Act, the data were mapped to identify geospatial patterns of offending on and off campus. Results illustrate important patterns of crime both on and off campus, involving both students and nonstudents. Also, multivariate analyses suggest that several factors are consistently predictive of on-campus and student arrests. Policy implications and suggestions for future research based on these findings are discussed.

Fear of property, violent, and gang crime: examining the shadow of sexual assault thesis among male and female offenders

The current study examines the impact of perceived risk and fear of sexual assault on male and female offenders’ fear of (a) property crime, (b) violent crime, and (c) gang crime. Results indicate that perceived risk of victimization and fear of sexual assault are significantly associated with fear of property, violent, and gang crime among the full sample and among both men and women. Confirming results of prior research, perceived risk of victimization is a stronger predictor of property, violent, and gang fear among men. Fear of sexual assault emerged as a stronger predictor of fear of property, violent, and gang crime among women, confirming Ferraro’s shadow of sexual assault thesis.

A Multi-Theoretical Framework to Assess Gendered Stalking Victimization: The Utility of Self-Control, Social Learning, and Control Balance Theories

Despite recent advancements in the criminological study of stalking, few theoretical tests have been conducted to date to explain stalking victimization among men and women separately. The current study individually and simultaneously extends three criminological theories to the study of stalking victimization: self-control, social learning, and control balance theories. Among a sample of 2,766 university students, a series of models were estimated for men and women separately to assess each set of theoretical variables net of control variables. Results reveal consistent significant positive relationships between stalking victimization and low self-control for men; differential peer association (e.g. friends are stalking victims) for men and women; and several social learning variables for only women. However, the control imbalance variables do not explain stalking victimization among men or women, net of other theoretical and control variables. The utility of a multi-theoretical approach to future stalking victimization research is discussed.

Examining the Instrumental–Expressive Continuum of Homicides: Incorporating the Effects of Gender, Victim–Offender Relationships, and Weapon Choice

The current study examines and extends the instrumental–expressive categories of homicide. Correspondence analysis of 30 years of homicide data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Supplementary Homicide Reports focuses on gender differences, the victim–offender relationship and weapon choice among the types of homicide. Findings reveal that the weapon type used in homicides depends on the sex and relationship of the offender and victim. Results also support a revised instrumental–expressive homicide continuum that includes offensive-defensive categories. The enhanced homicide dimensions include instrumental-offensive, expressive-offensive, and expressive-defensive homicides.

A Gendered Lifestyle-Routine Activity Approach to Explaining Stalking Victimization in Canada

Research into stalking victimization has proliferated over the last two decades, but several research questions related to victimization risk remain unanswered. Accordingly, the present study utilized a lifestyle-routine activity theoretical perspective to identify risk factors for victimization. Gender-based theoretical models also were estimated to assess the possible moderating effects of gender on the relationship between lifestyle-routine activity concepts and victimization risk. Based on an analysis of a representative sample of more than 15,000 residents of Canada from the Canadian General Social Survey (GSS), results suggested conditional support for lifestyle-routine activity theory and for the hypothesis that predictors of stalking victimization may be gender based.

Violent Victimization Vulnerability: Testing a Conceptual Model of Personality, Social, and Community Factors

The current study extends theories of crime to explain victimization by examining the direct effects of personality factors (low self-control), social factors (social bonds), and community factors (collective efficacy) on violent victimization. Next, we examine the effects of these theories indirectly through risky lifestyles to impact violent victimization. The proposed conceptual model is tested among a large national sample of youth (ages 12–16) from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data (Add Health). Self-control, social bonds, and collective efficacy impact violent victimization indirectly through their effects on risky lifestyles, including unstructured peer socialization, peer marijuana use, respondents’ own marijuana use, and violence. The proposed conceptual model was generally supported and future directions for research to test and enhance this conceptual model are considered

Gangs, Gender, and Violent Victimization

Abstract Gang scholars have recently turned their attention to a unique and underdeveloped line of inquiry: the victimization of gang members. However, the gang-victimization link remains unclear, especially in terms of how gang men and women are violently victimized in different—or similar—ways. Using a sample of 2,345 adult jail inmates incarcerated in Florida (ages 18–84), this study explores the role of gender in terms of (1) the forms of violent crimes gang members experience more than nongang members, (2) who victimizes gang members, and (3) if gang members’ risky lifestyles explain victimization risk. Findings reveal more similarities than differences among gang men (n = 300) and women (n = 53). Gang men and women are generally victimized by the same violent crimes, and while the offenders who target gang members vary, there are no significant gender differences. Female gang members were significantly more likely to be sexually assaulted by members of their own gang and nonmembers (compared to members of rival gangs). The gang-victimization link remains significant for both men and women even after accounting for demographic characteristics, gang membership, and risky lifestyles—including violent offending.