The Impact of Peer Groups and Routine Activities on the Victim-Offender Overlap: Evidence From a German Study on Youth Crime

• Date: 01 June 2022
• Author: Anke Erdmann
• Published date: 01 June 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/10575677211038617
• Subject Matter: Original Articles

Original Article

The Impact of Peer Groups

and Routine Activities on

the Victim-Offender Overlap:

Evidence From a German

Study on Youth Crime

Anke Erdmann

1

Abstract

Despite the substantive evidence on the victim-offender overlap from various national contexts,

comprehensive examinations for Germany are lacking. This article provides insights into peer group-

related correlates of the victim-offender overlap by specifically differentiating the roles of victims,

offenders, and victim-offenders. The analysis examines risk factors for involvement in violence using

a sample of 3,519 14- and 16-year-old students from a large crime study conducted in Germany.

Applying multinomial logistic regression, the risk of being a victim-only, offender-only, or victim-

offender is predicted by peer group characteristics such as frequency of meeting, group composi-

tion, delinquent norms, and routine activities with friends. The results show that proximity to

friends and delinquent norms of peers significantly influence victimization, offending, and the victim-

offender overlap. Regarding group composition, violent offending and being a victim-offender

occurred more often in male-dominated mixed-gender friend groups, whereas victimization risk

is not affected by group composition. Frequent alcohol consumption within the group is associated

with victimization risk and the victim-offender overlap, whereas going out is associated with

offending and the overlap. The findings underline that the peer context is not only of importance for

explaining delinquency but also for unraveling victimization and the victim-offender overlap.

Keywords

victim-offender overlap, youth violence, routine activity, peer groups, norms

It is a well-documented fact that people are remarkably similar to their friends (McPherson et al.,

2001; Rokven et al., 2017). The peer group poses a major context of socialization for adolescents

(Schreck & Fisher, 2004; Vogel & Keith, 2015), leading to an alignment of attitudes and behavior

1

Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

Corresponding Author:

Anke Erdmann, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Universitaetsstrasse 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany.

Emails: erdmann_anke@gmx.net; anke.erdmann@uni-bielefeld.de

International CriminalJustice Review

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DOI: 10.1177/10575677211038617

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2022, Vol. 32(

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2) 178 198

among members of a (close) friend group. This congruence of one’s own and friends’ characteristics

also applies to deviance: The influence of delinquent peers—in the form of their behavior, norms,

and attitudes—is one of the most consistently identified factors for explaining youth crime and

violence. A comprehensive amount of research certifies that peer delinquency ranks among the

strongest and most prominent predictors of delinquency (Agnew, 1991; Bentrup, 2014; Haynie,

2002; Matsueda & Anderson, 1998; Pratt et al., 2010; Seddig, 2013; Warr, 2002).

Yet, peer group characteristics can not only be tied to offending but also to victimization (Schreck

& Fisher, 2004; Schreck et al., 2004). Transferring such predictors of delinquency onto victimization

risk seems obvious since there is undisputedly a strong association between victimization and

offending—the victim-offender overlap—that is well established from a variety of studies (Berg

& Felson, 2016; Jennings et al., 2012; Lauritsen et al., 1991; Ousey et al., 2011; Posick, 2013;

Schreck et al., 2008; TenEyck & Barnes, 2018). It is therefore highly probable that victims will be

characterized by a similar set of peer group influences as offenders. Examinations referring to ideas

from other popular theories, particularly the lifestyle and routine activity approach, have already

provided evidence that the same daily activities or lifestyles are influential for delinquency and

victimization risk, thus explaining the overlap between both.

However, treating victims and offenders completely alike nevertheless has some pitfalls. Scholars

have already argued that victims and victim-offenders should be viewed in a more nuanced way

(Mustaine & Tewksbury, 2000; Skjærvø et al., 2017; TenEyck & Barnes, 2018; van Gelder et al.,

2015). For instance, Mustaine and Tewksbury (2000) describe victims, offenders, and victim-

offenders as three distinct groups with varying patterns of lifestyle measures. Furthermore, it has

been demonstrated that victim-offenders are more similar to offenders regarding their activity

profile, whereas victims-only are more similar to people abstaining from violence (Klevens et al.,

2002). There is thus reason to assume that victim-offenders might be more similar to offenders than

they are to victims. Accordingly, the nonoffending victims should be distinguishable from victim-

offenders. Wang et al. (2018) find evidence that peer delinquency and activities are related to role

differentiation between victims and offenders. Yet, empirical examinations of this topic are not

saturated yet. In a forthcoming paper, Berg and Schreck (2021) point out that although role differ-

entiation is an empirical reality, researchers have yet to provide substantive evidence on correlates

that distinguish victims from offenders.

Hence, despite the profound evidence of peer groups’ influ ence on delinquency that can be

transferred to victimization, two aspects remain widely obscured: How are the effects among people

who are both—the victim-offenders—and how are the impacts on victimization when the delin-

quency is absent (the nonoffending victims)? The present article attempts to elucidate which peer

group factors impact victimization and offending while differentiating the roles of victims-only,

offenders-only, and victim-offenders within a sample of German urban adolescents. For this pur-

pose, two theoretical frameworks are brought together to guide this manuscript: social learning

theory (Akers, 2009; Sutherla nd, 1947) and lifestyle–routi ne activity theory (Cohen & Fels on,

1979; Hindelang et al., 1978).

The Influence of Lifestyle and Routine Activities on Delinquency and Victimization

Offending, victimization, and their overlap have popularly been explained by mechanisms

derived from routine activity theory (Cohen & Felson, 1979) and lifestyle e xposure theory

(Garofalo, 1987; Hindelang et al., 1978) which are usually merged into one theoretical framework

(L-RAT; Engstro¨m, 2020). The routine activity approach describes crime as the situationally caused

outcome of the convergence of three major elements: (a) a motivated offender, (b) a suitable target,

and (c) the absence of capable guardians. The theory was later complemented by the concept of

structured and unstructured socializing (Osgood et al., 1996). Accordingly, the theory argues that

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Erdmann