Scaring or scarring? Labour market effects of criminal victimization

Little is known about the costs of crime to victims and their families. In this paper, we use unique and detailed register data on victimisations and labour market outcomes from the Netherlands to overcome data restrictions previously met in the literature and estimate event-study designs to assess the short- and long-term effects of criminal victimisation. Our results show significant decreases in earnings (up to 8.4% for property and 10.4% for violent crime) and increases in the days of benefit receipt (up to 2.7% and 6%, respectively) which are lasting up to four years after victimisation (and longer) for both male and female victims of crime. We find shorter-lived responses in health expenditure and some, but less strong spillover effects on the victim's partner. Further, we find that the negative impacts of victimisation tend to be even larger for (female) victims of domestic violence. Additional analyses suggest that the victimisation can be interpreted as an escalation point, potentially triggering subsequent adverse life-events which contribute to its persistent impact.