Preliminary Findings from the SaSSaH Study: Post-Injury Engagement with the Police and Victim Services among Offender-Victims

• In Event: We Know Victim-Offender Overlap is “A Thing”: Now What?

Abstract

Victims are often offenders and offenders are often victims. A key question in reducing future violence and victimization is whether first responders and other criminal justice system actors identify the victim as an offender or simply a victim, and whether the label influences subsequent victim treatment and victim engagement with the criminal justice and health services systems. The current paper describes a new mixed methods study (Services and Social Support after Harm Study) funded by the National Institute of Justice that examines police and victim service system networks of response after violent street conflicts, and how service delivery is influenced by whether an individual was identified first as a victim or an offender. Relying on the first 75 surveys and interviews completed with victims of street crimes, the paper will compare and contrast perceptions of system biases, and services sought and accessed for those victims identified as victims first against those victims identified as offenders first. The paper will also discuss how individual-level and contextual level factors contributed to differing experiences.

Authors

• Caterina Gouvis Roman, Temple University

• Juwan Bennett, Temple University

• Courtney Harding, Temple University