Almost one-in-three are repeat crime victims
And nearly half of repeat victims have been targeted three times or more.
Garda figures show almost one-fifth of households burgled had been robbed before, rising to a third in relation to business premises.
A report published in the Garda Communique Journal revealed 60% of domestic violence victims had suffered abuse before and 10% of people physically assaulted had been previously attacked.
Gardaí are conducting a pilot study in one division to see if they can identify repeat victims and establish how best to respond.
"Repeat victimisation refers to the tendency for crime to occur in hot spots where a small number of prolific criminals are active, and where their attention is directed at a relatively small number of individuals or properties who tend to be victimised repeatedly," said Dr Kiran Sarma, who carried out the research.
Dr Sarma, a lecturer in psychology at University of Limerick, said offenders were drawn to those in their community who were most easily victimised and had something of value to be taken.
"The flip side of this coin is that such victims tend to have a demographic profile or lifestyle characteristics, including lack of awareness of basic crime prevention strategies, which render them vulnerable to victimisation."
He said international research consistently showed as much as 40% of all crime is experienced by less than 5% of the population.
Repeat victimisation was particularly common in domestic burglaries, racial incidents, domestic violence, child sexual and physical abuse, car crime, property crime, public disorder, retail crime and credit card fraud.
Dr Sarma said projects in Leeds and Huddersfield in England had successfully targeted repeat victimisation.
But he said it had proven difficult to roll out these projects nationwide, given the lack of dedicated police resources and equipment.
"It would simply be impossible to offer specific crime prevention advice to all repeat victims across all crime categories using existing resources, and would require a huge investment in the Crime Prevention Officer (CPO) role involving increased man power, training and access to crime prevention devices," said Dr Sarma.
But he said garda management could make use of the PULSE computer system to identify repeat victims, which CPOs could work on. He said gardaí could also make use of geographical software to locate crime hot spots.
He said he was involved in a pilot project in the Galway West Garda Division.
"Using PULSE records for all burglaries and assaults in the division, we are examining the system's usefulness in identifying repeat victims and considering how best to respond to such victims when identified."
All victims of crime: 30%
Domestic burglaries: 18.5%
Burglaries of business premises: 32.5%
Theft of vehicle: 14%
Theft from vehicle: 16%
Criminal damage to vehicle: 31%
Criminal damage to home: 32.5%
Theft from person without force: 22.5%
Physical assault: 10%
Domestic violence: 55%.
