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Lesson 2

VICTIMOLOGY

VICTIMOLOGY
Is the scientific study of victimization including the relationships betweenvictims and
offenders, the interactions between victims and the criminal justicesystem that is, the
police and courts, and corrections officials-andtheconnections between victims and
other societal groups and institutions, suchasthe media, businesses, and social
movements.

VICTIMOLOGY THEORY
The concept of victim dates back to ancient cultures andcivilizations, such as the
ancient Hebrews. Its original meaning was rooted in theideaof sacrifice or scapegoat, the
execution or casting out of a person or animal tosatisfy a deity or hierarchy. During the
founding of victimology in the1940’s, vitimologists such as Mendelson Von Hentig, and
Wolfgang tendedtouseatextbook or dictionary definitions of victims as hapless dupes who
instigatedtheir own victimizations known notion of “victim precipitation”. Over theyears,
ideasabout victim precipitation have come to be perceived as a negativething; “victim
blaming” it is called. Crime victim generally refers to any person, group, or entity who has
suffered injury or loss due to illegal activity. The harmcanbephysical, psychological, or
economic.

Type of Victims:
1. Primary crime victims- is a person who is injured or dies as a direct result of anact of
violence committed against them

2. Secondary Crime Victims- is a person who suffers nervous shock withouthimself being
exposed to danger. An example of this spectator at acar race, who witnesses a terrible car
crash caused by negligence on the part of thecar manufacturers and develops a nervous
illness as a result of his experience.

3. Tertiary Crime Victims- victims who experience the harmvicariously, suchasthrough media
accounts, the scared public or community due towatchingnews regarding crime incidents.

Note: One of the goals of victimology as a science is to help endthis stateof societal
confusion.

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History of Victimology

The scientific study of vicitimology can be traced back to the1940’s. Twocriminologists

(victimologists), Mendelson and Von Hentig, began toexplorethefield of vitimology by
creating “typologies”. They are considered the“fathersof the study of victimology.

Mendelson (1937) interviewed victims to obtain information, andbelievethat most

vicitms had an “unconscious aptitude for being victimized”. Hecreated a typology of six
(6) types of victims, with only the first type, theinnocent, portrayed as just being in the
wrong place at the wrongtime. Theother five types all contributed somehow to their own
injury, andrepresentedvictim precipitation.

Von Hentig (1948) studied victims of homicide, and said that themostlikely type of
victim is the “depressive type” who is an easy target, careless andunsuspecting. The “greedy
type” is easily duped because his or her motivationfor easy gain lowers his or her natural
tendency to be suspicious. The“wantontype” is particularly vulnerable to stresses that occur
at a given periodof timeinthe life cycle, such as juvenile victims. The “tormentor”, is the
victimof attackfrom the target of his or her abuse, such as with battered women.

Few enduring models and near-theories exist:

1. Luckenbill’s (1977) Situated Transaction Model – this one is commonly foundinsociology of
deviance textbooks. The idea is that at the interpersonal level, crime and victimization is a
contest of character.

2. Benjamin & Master’s Threefold Model – this one is found in avarietyof criminological studies,
from prison riots to strain theories.

Conditions that Support crime can be classified into three general categories: 1.
Precipitating Factors – time, space, being in the wrong place at thewrongtime
2. Attracting Factors – choices, options, lifestyle (the sociological
expression“lifestyle” refers to daily routine activities as well as special events
oneengagesin on a predictable basis).
3. Predisposing Factors – all the sociodemographic characteristics of victims, being male,
being young, being poor, being a minority, living in squalor, beingsingle, being
unemployed.

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3. Cohen & Felson’s (1979) Routine Activities Theory – this one is quitepopular among
victimologists today who are anxious to test the theory.

Crime occurs whenever three conditions come together: 1. Suitable Targets – and
we’ll always have suitable targets as longas wehavepoverty

2. Motivated Offenders - and we’ll always have motivated offenders sincevictimology,

unlike deterministic criminology, assumes anyone will trytogetaway with something if they
can: and

3. Absence of Guardian – the problem is that there’s fewdefensiblespaces(natural

surveillance areas) and in the absence of private security, thegovernment can’t do the job
alone.

Note: the phenomena that criminals and victims often havethesamesociodemographic

characteristics (e.g. are in relatively the same agegroup)isknown as the propinquity
hypothesis; and that criminals and victims oftenliveinphysical proximity to one another is
called the proximity hypothesis.
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Crime Prevention and Protection Principles

1. Primary Prevention – involves altering the environment in such away therootscauses, or at
least the facilitator, of crime are eliminated.

2. Secondary Prevention– involves a focus upon specific problems, places, andtimes

with the twin goals of reducing s=situation-specific opportunities for crimeand
increasing the risks for committing crime. Follow Clarke (1980), manypeoplecall this
situational crime prevention.

3. Tertiary Prevention – is a term taken from the field of medicinetodescribeprocedures to be

taken after a disease or threat is manifest. It characterizedbybeing reactive, or after the
fact. Examples would include personal injuryor property insurance as well as self-protective
measures engaged in by thosewhohave been victimized previously. It also includes
get-tough legislationandother legal reforms which make the punishment for crime more
certain, severe, andswift.

Criminal Justice System Response to Victim First of all, we need to know who the victims
are. While crimevictim related research of 40 and 50 years ago examined the
characteristics of victims, much of it approached the issue from the perspective of “shared
responsibility”, that is of crime were, in part, “responsible” for their victimization.

The risk of becoming a crime victim varies as a function of

S.A.U.C.E.R(Sociodemographic Characteristics):
▪ Sex-male or female
▪ Age – young, middle aged, or elderly
▪ Urban – Urban or rural
▪ Class – Socioeconomic class
▪ Ethnicity – racial characteristics
▪ Religion – Religious preference

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CRIME ACCORDING TO SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

SEX – with the exception of sexual assault and domestic violence, menhavehigher risk of
assault than women. Lifetime risk of homicide is three tofour timeshigher for men than
women

AGE – adolescents has a higher rates of assault than young adults. Datafromthe National
Crime Victimization Survey indicate that 12 to 19 years olds are2to3 times as likely as those
over 20 to become victims of personal crimeeachyear. Data from The National Women’s
Study indicate that 62 % of all forciblerapecases occurred when the victim was under 18
years of age.

URBAN – Crime and victimization is mostly an urban problem

CLASS- Violence disappropriately affects those fromlower

socioeconomicclasses.

ETHNICITY – racial and ethnic minorities have higher rates of assault thanother Americans.
African- American is six times more likely than white Americans tobehomicide victims.

RELIGION – certain religious groups tend to be regularly persecuted, andover represented in

hate crime statistics.
ENVIRONMENTAL THEORY
One of the most controversial sub-topics within the broader topicisvictimization. The
concept of “victim-proneness” is a “highly moralisticwayof assigning guilt to the victim of a
crime, also known as victim-blaming.
The study of victimology may also include the “ culture of victimhood”, wherein the
victim of a crime revels in his status, proclaiming that self-createdvictimhood through a
community by winning the sympathy of professionals andpeers.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
It is commonly known as a theory of criminal justice that focuses oncrimeas an act
against another individual or community rather than thestate. Thevictim plays a major
role in the process and may receive some typeof restitutionfrom the offender.

VICTIM- OFFENDER MEDIATION

This is also called Victim-offender dialogue, victim-offender conferencing,
victim-offender reconciliation, or restorative justice dialogue), is usually aface–

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to-face meeting, in the presence of a trained mediator, between thevictimof acrime and
the person who committed that crime.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Actus Reus: Sometimes called the external element of crime – is theLatintermfor the “guilty
act” which, when proved beyond a reasonabledoubt incombination with the mens rea,
i.e. the “guilty mind”, produces criminal liabilityin common law-based criminal law
jurisdictions.

CELERITY – swiftness. Beccaria argues that in order to achieve thedeterrenteffect of

sentence it must possess celerity.

CONSTITUTIONAL THEORIES – theories such as Lombroso’s or Sheldon’s thatlocate the

origins of criminality in a person’s biological or psychological make-up. It refers to one’s
physical constitution (not a legal constitution).

DEVIANT BEHAVIOR- behavior that is a recognized in violation of social norms. Itis not the
act itself, but the reactions to the act, that make somethingdeviant.

DURHAM RULE ( irresistible impulse) - Monte Durham was a 23- years oldwhohad been in
and out of prison and mental institutions since he was 17. TheDurham rule states “that an
accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act was the product of mental disease or
mental defect”.
 The Durham rule was eventually rejected by the federal courts, becauseitcast too
broad a net. Alcoholics, compulsive gamblers, and drugaddicts hadsuccessfully used the
defense to defeat a wide variety of crimes.

MENS REA – A Latin term for “guilty mind” used in the criminal law

ETIOLOGY – the study of causes or origin of behavior. Positivist’s approaches tocriminology

are characterized by their interest in determining theetiologyof criminal behavior

EX-POST FACTO – laws that apply retroactively, that is to punishactionsconducted before

they were pronounce illegal.

HEDONISM – the idea held by the classical school, that

peopleonlyactaccording to what they find pleasurable and in their self-interest.
SeealsoFreeWill/ Reason

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McNaughton Rule (not knowing right from wro ▪ Place it in apaper
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RECIPROCAL OBLIGATION – the basis of the so CenturyGothic/Arial/Tim paper
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rationally considering what is really in their self
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that life is more pleasurable with adegreeofse
all side
promising not to act in ways that willharm oth

SOMATOTYPING- it is the derivation of behavio

body. Somatotyping was first applied to crimi
WilliamSheldonandEleanor Glueck.

STIGMA – as a term of medicine, ‘stigma’ refe

that suggest an individual is abnormal. For Lom for
skull sizes, hawk-like noses, large jaws and che

UTILITARIANISM – specifically, utilitarianism refe

John Stuart Mill that the overall utility or benef yet
standard by which we judge the worth or goo
contract theorists; the idea that governmentu
understanding of humannatureashedonistic,
they realizeit is intheirbenefit. “Promoting the G

Activity #9: Masterpiece

Make a piece of artwork of your preference,

and
relating to victimology that identifies the subjewas

Instructions (with devicegad Instruction

encoding)
means
encodin
5pts

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NAME: SUBJECT: COURSE/YEAR/SECTION: SCHEDULE: ACTIVITY #9:

MASTERPIECE
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