# Volunteers

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volunteers/657471>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 4, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volunteers/657471 "2013-05-04T04:48:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volunteers/657471/21 "2013-05-05T15:17:01Z")

</div>

I believe that some of us may do things that put us at a higher risk of becomming a victim of a crime, but in no way shape or form would that qualify as a volunteer. Being on the street late at night in a bad neighborhood, appearing weak and defenseless, not securing our property etc all will increase our risk of being a victim.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volunteers/657471/22 "2013-05-05T18:24:20Z")

</div>

> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> Yes, some people take risks. But they don’t only risk crime, some people drive a lot and increase their chances of being in an accident, some people risk their health through their behavior. Risk taking isn’t something to isolate in the case of crime and consider that any different than other risks.

It shouldn’t be considered differently than any other risks, but yet it is for certain crimes. It’s funny, I recently had a conversation about this with someone who basically asked me how I got through high school without being victimized- he apparently thought that virtually everyone in that high school at that time was assaulted at least once. When I replied that I didn’t engage in behaviors that would have increased my risk- (I didn’t walk around looking scared, with my head down, unaware of my surroundings, I used the hallways and stairwells with more traffic rather than those likely to be empty, I didn’t display large sums of money or wear expensive jewelry and I almost always traveled in a group) I was immediately accused of “blaming the victims”. No, it’s not the victims fault, but it makes no sense not to acknowledge that I can determine my risk to an extent by engaging in more or less risky behaviors.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volunteers/657471.md?page=1)