Abstract
In the Netherlands, nearly 2 million people are the victim of a criminal offence every year. A small portion are even more frequently the victim of an offence: these are known as repeat victims. Negative consequences of victimisation are especially strong among this group. The Dutch police has as its task to protect victims. It is therefore important for police officers to know which victims are at high risk of repeat victimisation.
This PhD thesis investigates the extent to which police data can be used to identify repeat victims. One of the tools that has been developed for this purpose is the ProVict risk assessment tool. ProVict is an automated tool that calculates for all victims reporting to the police how high or low the risk is that they will be the victim of a repeat attack. This means that ProVict can help police officers in their contact with victims and potentially provide leads for protective measures.
In addition to looking at the development of ProVict, this PhD thesis also examines the extent to which Individual Assessment, a relatively new person-centred approach within the police, can help identify repeat victims. Finally, the thesis investigates whether there are different victim trajectories. All in all, it can be concluded that police data contains valuable data for identifying repeat victims. Using police data can be a promising step forward in protecting victims in the Netherlands.
