Exposure, Provocation, and Vulnerability: Toward a General Theory of Victimization

• In Event: Victimization Across the Life Course

Abstract

To date, theories of victimization have been fragmented and tested piecemeal. On one hand, theories of victimization have largely relied on insights garnered from criminology and informed by the overlap of victimization and offending. Other efforts have explored victim vulnerability relying on data from children and the elderly, as well as those with various disabilities. This study will present a general theory of victimization with attention to the individual and contextual mechanisms of both direct and indirect victimization.

Authors

• Chad Posick, Georgia Southern University

• Gregory M. Zimmerman, Northeastern University

• Leah E. Daigle, Georgia State University

• Shanna Felix, Georgia Southern University