Crime e vitimização: evidências teóricas e empíricas

Abstract

This study makes use of econometric methods to analyze crime from the perspective of the victim and seeks to find which personal and local characteristics trigger the attention of criminals in Brazil. From data provided by the National Research of Sample per Household of 2008 and 2009, Probit models are estimated to identify the reasons for victimization, and the likelihood to make a complaint of three types of crime: theft, robbery, and physical assault. Results show that the profile of the perpetrator features characteristics opposed to the profile of the victim, that is, the criminal generally has low education while the victim has high education. The findings also point that gender and marital status of individuals are crucial to victimization characteristics for such crimes. The study concludes that single men are more exposed to violence, which corroborates theories of lifestyle and routine activities in the explanation of criminal victimization. Besides that, the research takes into account the role of other factors in explaining violence in Brazil, such as, income, age and education, as well as macroeconomic conditions.