Robberies against Female and Male Victims

Abstract

Female victimization is one of the areas in crime research that demands more attention. Despite the relatively high rates of robbery against female victims, very few studies have compared robberies perpetrated against female and male victims, and female victims of robbery have been under-researched. By adopting a comparative approach, we aim to investigate the differences in the characteristics of female and male victimization and contribute to developing better strategies for crime prevention and victim treatment. Based on 615 robbery cases against female victims and 720 robbery cases against male victims in South Korea, we performed detailed analyses of robbery victimization. We found notable differences between robberies against females and males in terms of offender’s age, criminal history, and occupation; victim’s age; victim-offender relationship; and offense location. Moreover, robbery victimization differed by the gender of the victim with respect to offense type, premeditation, violence use, and evidence left. Furthermore, we identified a number of factors that contributed to differentiating female victimization from male victimization. The present study has practical implications for preventing robbery and developing gender-specific treatment strategies for female victims.