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This study applied a decision-making perspective to examine the causal mechanisms underlying the relation between violent victimization and offending. We theorized that having been victimized affects an individual's appraisal of subsequent potentially conflictive situations in such a way that victims become more attuned toward the benefits of violence perpetration than toward its costs. Furthermore, we argued that this altered appraisal mediates the relation between violent victimization and violent offending. We tested these hypotheses by using data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths, a longitudinal study of Swiss youth (N = 1,013; 11-15 years of age). In line with expectations, path analysis results showed that prior victimization influenced the appraisal of decision-making situations that, in turn, predicted subsequent self-reported violent offending. Importantly, these mediation effects held when controlling for a variety of time-stable factors, such as self-control and risky activities, as well as prior victimization and delinquency. Implications for research and theorizing on the victim-offender overlap are elaborated in the discussion.

© The Author(s) 2017. Drawing from life history theory and developmental perspectives, we test the hypothesis that the relation between parental discipline practices and delinquency is explained in part by short-term mindsets. We argue that such practices induce an orientation towards the here-and-now rather than the future, which, in turn, promotes delinquency. We used longitudinal data (N = 1,197) from the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood into Adulthood (z-proso). We distinguished between two types of disciplining practices, corporal and inconsistent punishment, which map onto two main environmental parameters, harshness and unpredictability. Results show that short-term mindsets, operationalized by impulsivity and low future orientation, mediate the relation between corporal and erratic punishment and delinquency, with impulsivity being the most important mediator.

This chapter examines the cognitive, affective, and situational factors that influence the decision-making processes of those who kill. With little existing research that specifically focuses on homicide offender decision making, this chapter brings together criminological and psychological research on violence-related cognition, affect, and the situational dynamics of violent encounters. The authors make the case for combining perspectives in order to better understand decision making and homicide. Four case studies, two cases of homicide and two of sublethal encounters, illuminate offenders’ thoughts and feelings prior to and during the commission of the offense and illustrate the complex interplay of cognitive, affective, and situational factors in lethal and near-lethal events. The chapter concludes with proposed avenues for future research.

Objectives: Provide insight into the victim-offender overlap and role differentiation by examining to what extent socio-psychological characteristics, risky lifestyles/routine activities and immersion in a violent subculture explain differences between victims, offenders and victim-offenders. Specifically, we measure to what extent anxiety and depression, negative peer relations, dominance, and self-control account for differences in adolescents’ inclination towards (violent) offending, victimization or both, over and above risky lifestyles/routine activities or immersion in a violent subculture. Methods: Building on the method proposed by Osgood and Schreck (Criminology 45:273–311, 2007), we use two waves of panel data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths, a prospective longitudinal study of adolescents in Switzerland. Results: Incorporating socio-psychological characteristics provides a more encompassing view of both the victim-offender overlap and victim versus offender role differentiation than routine activities/risky lifestyles and subcultural theory alone. Specifically, socio-psychological characteristics in particular differentiate between those who take on predominantly offender roles versus those who are predominantly victims. Conclusion: Unpacking the victim-offender overlap and examining differences in socio-psychological characteristics furthers our understanding of the etiology of the victim-offender overlap.