This article discusses a phenomenon which has received little attention from a sociological perspective: the self-exclusion of victims of criminal acts. The author proposes a discussion of the experience of criminal victimization not only with respect to its physical or economic consequences, but also, and above all, in psychological and emotional terms. In these situations, individuals develop strategies of isolation, of rupture with their environment, as a consequence of provoked and internalized fear. This situation continues for long periods of time, in some cases as much as a few years. For some individuals, this fear and insecurity never go away, and they must learn to live with them.