Multiple Victimization in Canada, 2004 - ARCHIVED

A large proportion of all victimization incidents are experienced by a relatively small number of victims who experienced multiple incidents. According to the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS) on Victimization, a little more than 10% of the population aged 15 and over were the victims of more than one crime during the 12 months preceding the survey, representing 60% of all criminal incidents. If one considers only violent crimes, 2% of the population accounted for 60% of all violent victimization reported to the GSS.

Given that a small proportion of individuals and households face a significant proportion of crimes, as a result determining which characteristics increases a person's risk of being victimized will help to improve the effectiveness of crime prevention measures, and perhaps help prevent further incidents of victimization.