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Victim as offender in youth violence
F P Rivara1, J P Shepherd, D P Farrington
1Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
Study Objective:
To determine how often adolescent and young adult victims of assaultive injury are offenders in assaults and other crimes.
Design:
Comparison of 10- to 24-year-old males treated in the accident and emergency department for assault-related injuries to similar-aged males treated in the same department for unintentional injuries. Police records were searched on both groups for warnings or convictions.
Setting:
Accident and emergency department of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary.
Results:
Assault patients were significantly more likely to be formally warned or convicted, and they had a higher mean number of warnings or convictions per 100 person-years of exposure, than other injury patients. These differences were most pronounced for the younger patients and for the year following the injury.
Conclusion:
These results suggest that many young male assault patients either have a history of criminal activity or develop criminal behavior subsequent to their assault and may benefit from appropriate intervention aimed at interrupting the cycle of crime and violence.