Correlates of Offending and Victimization in Education

CORRELATES OF OFFENDING AND VICTIMISATION
INTRODUCTION
The relationship between victimization and offending has widely been
documented with researchers suggesting that, victimization may result to
negative psychological, physical and emotional reactions leading victims to
commit crimes (Menard 2012). There are several pathways that can explain how
victimization leads to offending, a few could include revenge, displaced
retaliation and victim becoming friends with offender. Offenders become victims
is retaliation by victims and lack of attention by responsible people.
In understanding the correlation between victimization and offending, it is
important to look at factors that have enforced this correlation such as health,
gender, ethnicity and education. One key correlate that is discussed below is
education focusing on bullying, student performance, attendance, school
disorganization, attitude, anomie theory and social control theory.
There has been a direct relationship between students’ attendance and crime.
Truant students are likely to be offenders since they are idle and some of them
have negative attitudes towards other students. On the other hand, they are
likely to be victims since they lack protection from elder people in the society
who have ignored or abandoned.
The impact of company and relationships inside and outside the school has
hugely contributed to victim-offender overlap. Social control theory explains
the types of relationship that a person is supposed to have and the impact of
imbalance of these relationship (Beckley et al. 2018). Students who hang
around deviant students are likely to be offenders to the community and
students but they also can be victims of other similar groups.
Education systems play a very huge role in individual’s life through the
provision of role models, teachers and other staff are very key in instilling the
correct motives into the students. Some students lack good role models and they
end up being menace to the society while others learn from role models who
mentor them ensuring they manifest their best (Howell 2010).
According to Australia Bureau of Statistics high crime rates are due to poverty,
unemployment and low levels of educational attainment. Individuals of low
socio-economic level are likely to commit crimes due to lack of employment
and poverty. These individuals also become victims of street wars and extra
judicial killings.
The aim of educations systems is to instill knowledge that will assist students to
be better individuals in the society. The teacher provides the knowledge and the
student decides what to do with the knowledge received. Most students use it
for the correct purposes until they become victims, once they have been
victimized they decide to retaliate based on their knowledge thereby being even
worse offenders.
School disorganization also contributes to the correlation between victimization
and offending, schools with poor curriculum, lazy teachers and poor supervision
instill bad morals into students, failing to teach them interpersonal and
intrapersonal skills. This leads to bright students who cannot relate with the
society resulting to deviant behaviors according to anomie and social control
theory.
Lastly, parents who failed to undergo education are prone to raising their
children poorly undermining the role of education in the society thus
establishing poor foundation in the lives of their children. These kids are likely
to become offenders and victim of crime (Fabio, Tu, Loeber, and Cohen 2011).
REFERENCE
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Beckley, A.L., Caspi, A., Arseneault, L., Barnes, J.C., Fisher, H.L., Harrington, H.,
Houts, R., Morgan, N., Odgers, C.L., Wertz, J. and Moffitt, T.E., 2018. The
developmental nature of the victim-offender overlap. Journal of developmental and
life-course criminology, 4(1), pp.24-49.
Fabio, A., Tu, L.C., Loeber, R. and Cohen, J., 2011. Neighborhood socioeconomic
disadvantage and the shape of the age–crime curve. American Journal of Public
Health, 101(S1), pp. S325-S332.
Howell, J.C., 2010. Gang Prevention: An Overview of Research and Programs.
Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Menard, S., 2012. Age, criminal victimization, and offending: Changing
relationships from adolescence to middle adulthood. Victims & offenders, 7(3),
pp.227-254.
Ttofi, M.M., Farrington, D.P., Lösel, F. and Loeber, R., 2011. The predictive
efficiency of school bullying versus later offending: A systematic/meta‐analytic
review of longitudinal studies. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 21(2),
pp.80-89.
CONCLUSION
Education is a key factor in the victim-offender overlap, school takes a lot of
time in an individual’s life imparting not only intellect but also interpersonal
and intrapersonal skills. Education defines the path of an individuals through
the curriculum and the friends that a person interacts with during one’s school
time.
As such, it is important to ensure that there is supervision and continual
modifications in the education sector in ensuring that students socially,
emotionally and psychological competent. Educational will also help in
reducing offenders from the streets due to employment and awareness thus
reducing victims.
A FOCUS ON EDUCATION
EVIDENCE BASE
According to a report generated by ISRD, 8% of the students who
experienced bullying in their schools ended up committing 33% of juvenile
crimes (Ttofi, Farrington, Lösel, & Loeber 2011). Bullying in schools has far
reaching psychological consequences if not taken care of, this act introduces
the student to violence and the need to isolate themselves from other people
in the fear of being bullied, these victims later become the offenders who are
detached from the society.
Students performance also is a huge factor in victim-offender overlap. Most
students who perform poorly or below average in school leading them to
repeat classes are prone to be violent and withdrawn from others. They
handle their frustration by being violent and antisocial making them possible
offenders and at the same time targets to being victimized by other students.
Sociologists explain this behavior using anomie or strain theory which
investigates how individuals deal with their frustrations. In the educational
system students deal with their frustrations by frustrating others, withdrawing
themselves, pretense and conformity.