Social Status, Opportunity And Repeat Victimization: The Unequal Distribution Of Safety

This research examines the relationship between victimization, social status and opportunity. More specifically, the effects of social status and opportunity on repeat victimization are examined. How does social status and opportunity simultaneously effect repeat victimization? This report consists of a secondary data analysis of the 2004 and 2009 Canadian Victimization Survey with a combined sample size of 43,200 people who were interviewed by telephone. Opportunity either partially or completely mediated the effects of social status on repeat victimization; however for certain subsamples neither opportunity nor social status explained repeat victimization. Additionally, the groups whose victimization was not explained by opportunity or social status also reported the highest rates of victimization amongst all of the subsamples. LGBT individuals in Canada experience the highest rates of victimization followed by Aboriginals and neither social status nor opportunity predicted their victimization