ABSTRACT Crime and violence has come to be perceived by the general populace as one of the primary challenges facing contemporary South Africa. Given the alarmingly high rates of youth victimization, this article attempts to shed light on one of the correlates influencing this phenomenon by exploring the relationship between violence exposure in two social locales, that is, the family and community, and criminal victimization. To this end, this article draws on the research findings of the first National Youth Victimisation Study conducted in 2005 by the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention. The results from the study, which was based on a sample of 4,409 young people between the ages of 12 and 22 years, indicate that violence exposure in the social environments in which young people live increases their vulnerability to subsequent criminal victimization.