The Cybercrime Victim-Offender Overlap: Evaluating Predictors for Victims, Offenders, Victim-Offenders, and Those Who are Neither

ABSTRACT

Few studies have examined the victim-offender overlap in cybercrimes, especially using mutually exclusive groups: victims-only, offenders-only, victim-offenders, and those who are neither. The current study uses a sample of adults (N = 837) to evaluate the predictors of cybercrime victimization and offending generally, as well as the group-specific differences and similarities. Cybercrime victimization significantly predicted offending and offending predicted victimization. Level of self-control, time spent participating in routine online activities, and demographic characteristics were significant predictors for both victimization and offending. Results showed that 40.5% of participants were victims-only, 20% offenders-only, and 16.6% were victim-offenders. Multinomial regression suggests there are significant differences and similarities between these groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Cybercrime
• victim-offender overlap
• self-control
• routine online activities

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Alyssa LaBerge for her guidance and support in writing this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the author.