DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37601
title: The Victim-Offender Overlap: Examining Police and Service System Networks of Response Among Violent Street Conflicts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2018-2019
title: Archival Version

description: The study examined the networks of service delivery around violent assaults involving street conflicts and disputes. The research was designed to expand understanding of the situational and contextual factors around street violence that impact how individuals who have past justice system involvement access (or do not access) victim services after being violently injured. The project used a mixed-method design that yielded both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data were drawn from focus groups, semi-structured interview with victim services providers, and in-depth interviews with 103 victims of street crime. Quantitative data were drawn from surveys and social network data collection with those same 103 victims of violent street assaults.
description: The study was designed to advance understanding of the help-seeking behavior of offender-victims who are victims of violent street assault, and gain insight into both the formal and informal networks of victim service supports available to and used by victims. The study focused on understanding, through the voices of the victims, how a variety of factors align to likely influence a number of actions a victim can take after assault: (1) reporting the victimization to the police; (2) going to the hospital; (3) seeking help from criminal justice-related victim services; (4) seeking help from other formal service systems; and (5) seeking support from informal sources, such as family and friends. The specific research questions were:
What role do police play as first responders to violent incidents involving the street code of violence, and how is this role and the response to the victimization associated with subsequent service access and service delivery in the justice system depending on whether an individual was identified first as a victim or an offender?
What are the individual-level, situational and contextual level factors that contribute to the different help-seeking paths of victims of street crime? Are there particular individual-level factors or situational level factors related that influence help-seeking behavior more than others?
What are the circumstances under which a victim-offender is excluded from Victims of Crime Act (VOCA)-funded services? Are there any myths or misconceptions that are associated with a victim not receiving support from victim services?
What is the network structure of informal networks of support for victims of violent street crimes?
description: The study used a mixed-method design and focused on three main sets of stakeholders: (1) men and women who were victims of violent street crimes; (2) if appropriate, one family member or social network member of the victim; and (3) victim service providers, including nonprofit and grassroots agencies. The methods used to collect information from the different stakeholders varied. The qualitative data came from: (1) semi-structured interviews with victim service agencies; (2) focus groups with victim service providers and victims; (3) semi-structured interviews with the sample of victims of street crime conducted longitudinally at three time points, when possible; and (4) semi-structured interview data with social network members of victims as source of validation of social networks. The quantitative data came from: (1) surveys with the sample of victims of street crime at three points in time when possible, and (2) ego network information for victim participants.
Individuals, both men and women, were eligible for the study if they were between the ages 18 and 40, and had a violent injury as a result of a street crime that occurred within 12 months before study recruitment. The project focused on injuries that were serious enough to necessitate a hospital visit (though a victim still may have chosen not to go to the hospital). For the purposes of the study, street crimes were defined as predatory crimes that tend to occur outside (i.e., on the street), such as homicide and aggravated assault. The definition excludes violence perpetrated as part of a romantic or dating relationship.
description: The surveys covered four main topic areas: (1) the context of the victimization event and the persons and organizations involved in response; (2) perceptions of the need for services; (3) the help seeking steps taken, including services sought and accessed; and (4) perceptions of barriers to help-seeking. Detailed items on types of services received, knowledge of services, and access to services were also included, as well as a social network component.
description: Response Rates: A total of 127 Wave 1, or baseline, interviews were completed. After Wave 1, nine participants were deemed ineligible. Fifteen more participants were deemed ineligible at the point of their Wave 2 or Wave 3 interviews, bringing the final number of participants to 103.
The success rate for reaching the 103 eligible baseline participants at Wave 2 was 66 percent (n = 68). For Wave 3, the research team only sought to interview those who completed baseline interviews by April 30, 2018. Thirty-nine Wave 3 interviews were completed.
description: The study used purposive sampling. Beginning in January of 2018, informational flyers were distributed to brick-and-mortar locations and organizations throughout Philadelphia. Physical locations were chosen in neighborhoods with higher rates of violence and included public housing offices, public libraries, recreation centers, health clinics, victims' services offices and multi-unit housing complexes.
Street recruitment was conducted where the research team set up tables on corners with a lot of foot traffic and handed out recruitment cards to people that looked at first glance to be age-appropriate. Research assistant teams also walked street blocks in various parts of the city (i.e., without a table) to hand out recruitment cards. An effort was made to recruit in all major regions of Philadelphia.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: The Victim-Offender Overlap: Examining Police and Service System Networks of Response Among Violent Street Conflicts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2018-2019
description: Adult males and females, ages 18-40, who were victims of violent street crimes in Philadelphia.
description: paper and pencil interview (PAPI)The qualitative data collected for this study are not available.The research team excluded Wave 3 from the quantitative data.