Situational Factors and the Victim-Offender overlap

The project was funded by a research grant from the National Institute of Justice for the purpose of developing a deeper understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the strong association between violent behavior and violent victimization. The study gathers original data on a sample of inmates and their contacts in the community on the situational dynamics of their interpersonal conflicts and to understand the mechanisms that lead to dispute escalation. The project will result in an original dataset and a series of manuscripts focused on escalation and the overlap. The project Co-PI is Professor Richard Felson at Penn State University, Department of Sociology and Criminology.