ABSTRACT
It has long been recognized that people and organizations vary in their experience of victimization by crime. Pioneers in the fi eld like Nelson [1980] and Sparks [1981] drew out the central facts of uneven victimization. Polvi et al. [1990] drew attention to the time course of repeated victimization whereby victimizations tended to follow each other swift ly. More sophisticated analyses have subsequently confi rmed this [e.g., Robinson, 1998]. Overviews of the research literature have been provided by Farrell [1995, 2006] and Eck, Clarke, and Guerette [2007]. Additional useful information may be gleaned from the Problem-Oriented Policing Web site.*
Despite substantial research literature on the topic, there are two key reasons to think that the central importance of the concentration of victimization has yet to be recognized in crime theorizing and policing practice. Th e fi rst is that counting conventions in victimization surveys massively understate that concentration, and that policing attention does not refl ect that concentration. Th e * https://www.popcenter.org/Tools/tool-repeatVictimization.htm; accessed May 2, 2007.
