Ch 1 Intro To Victimology

Question 1

What is victim precipitation?

Answer 1

Victim Precipitation:
The extent to which a victim is responsible for their own victimization. Example, the victim being drunk and causing a fight.

Question 2

What is victimology?

Answer 2

Victimology, then, is the study of the etiology (or causes) of victimization, its consequences, how the criminal justice system accommodates and assists victims, and how other elements of society, such as the media, deal with crime victims. Victimology is a science; victimologists use the scientific method to answer questions about victims

Question 3

What is Lex talions?

Answer 3

The concept of “an eye for an eye”

Question 4

What is retribution?

Answer 4

Retribution:
A criminal is punished because they deserved it, and the punishment is equal to the harm caused

Question 5

What is restitution?

Answer 5

Restitution:
Money or services paid to victims of crimes by the offenders

Question 6

What is the code of Hammurabi?

Answer 6

Code of Hammurabi:
Early Babylonian code that emphasized the restoration of equity between the offender and the victim

Question 7

What is Victim Facilitation?

Answer 7

Victim facilitation occurs when a victim unintentionally makes it easier for an offender to commit a crime. A victim may, in this way, be a catalyst for victimization. A woman who accidentally left her purse in plain view in her office while she went to the restroom and then had it stolen would be a victim who facilitated her own victimization.

Question 8

What is Victim Provocation?

Answer 8

Victim provocation occurs when a person does something that incites another person to commit an illegal act. Provocation suggests that without the victim’s behavior, the crime would not have occurred. Provocation, then, most certainly connotes blame. In fact, the offender is not at all responsible.

Question 9

Who is Hans Von Hentig?

Answer 9

Hans von Hentig:
Developed a victim typology based on characteristics of the victim that increase risk of victimization.
He argued that crime victims could be placed into one of 13 categories based on their propensity for victimization: (1) young, (2) females, (3) old, (4) immigrants, (5) depressed, (6) mentally defective/deranged, (7) the acquisitive, (8) dull normals, (9) minorities, (10) wanton, (11) the lonesome and heartbroken, (12) tormentor, and (13) the blocked, exempted, and fighting. All these victims are targeted and contribute to their own victimization because of their characteristics.

Question 10

Who is the father of victimology?

Answer 10

Benjamin Mendelsohn:
Father of victimology; coined the term victimology in the mid-1940s.

He then created a classification of victims based on their culpability, or the degree of the victim’s blame. His classification entailed the following:
1. Completely innocent victim: a victim who bears no responsibility at all for victimization; victimized simply because of his or her nature, such as being a child
2. Victim with minor guilt: a victim who is victimized due to ignorance; a victim who inadvertently places themself in harm’s way
3. Victim as guilty as offender/voluntary victim: a victim who bears as much responsibility as the offender; a person who, for example, enters into a suicide pact
4. Victim more guilty than offender: a victim who instigates or provokes their own victimization
5. Most guilty victim: a victim who is victimized during the perpetration of a crime or as a result of crime
6. Simulating or imaginary victim: a victim who is not victimized at all but, instead, fabricates a victimization event

Question 11

Who is Stephen Schafer?

Answer 11

Schafer also proposed a victim typology. Using both social characteristics and behaviors, his typology places victims in groups based on how responsible they are for their own victimization. In this way, it includes facets of von Hentig’s typology based on personal characteristics and Mendelsohn’s typology rooted in behavior. He argued that people have a functional responsibility not to provoke others into victimizing or harming them and that they also should actively attempt to prevent that from occurring. He identified seven categories and labeled their levels of responsibility as follows:
1. Unrelated victims—no responsibility
2. Provocative victims—share responsibility
3. Precipitative victims—some degree of responsibility
4. Biologically weak victims—no responsibility
5. Socially weak victims—no responsibility
6. Self-victimizing—total responsibility
7. Political victims—no responsibility

Question 12

Who is Marvin Wolfgang?

Answer 12

Marvin Wolfgang
The first person to empirically investigate victim precipitation was Marvin Wolfgang (1957) in his classic study of homicides occurring in Philadelphia from 1948 to 1952. He examined some 558 homicides to see to what extent victims precipitated their own deaths. In those instances in which the victim was the direct, positive precipitator in the homicide, Wolfgang labeled the incident as victim precipitated. For example, the victim in such an incident would be the first to brandish or use a weapon, the first to strike a blow, and the first to initiate physical violence. He found that 26% of all homicides in Philadelphia during this period were victim precipitated.

Question 13

What is Subintentional Homicide?

Answer 13

Subintentional Homicide:
The victim facilitates their own death by using poor judgment, placing themself at risk, living a risky lifestyle, or using alcohol or drugs

Question 14

Who is Menachem Amir?

Answer 14

Menachem Amir:
Studied victim provocation in rapes.

he conducted his study using data from Philadelphia, although he examined rapes that occurred from 1958 to 1960. He examined the extent to which victims precipitated their own rapes and identified common attributes of victim-precipitated rape. Amir labeled almost 1 in 5 rapes as victim precipitated. He found that these rapes were likely to involve alcohol and that the victim was likely to engage in what was then considered seductive behavior, such as wear revealing clothing, use risqué language, and have a bad reputation.

Question 15

Who made Typologies?

Answer 15

Hans von Hentig, Benjamin Mendelsohn, and Stephen Schafer each proposed victim typologies used to classify victims in terms of their responsibility or role in their own victimization.

Marvin Wolfgang and Menachem Amir conducted the first empirical examinations of victim precipitation. Wolfgang studied homicides in Philadelphia, and Amir focused on forcible rapes. Wolfgang found that 26% of homicides were victim precipitated. Amir concluded that 19% of forcible rapes were precipitated by the victim.

Question 16

Civil Rights Movement

Answer 16

Civil Rights Movement:
Advocated against racism and discrimination, noting that all Americans have rights that are protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Also integral to the development of victims’ rights was the civil rights movement. This movement advocated against racism and discrimination, noting that all Americans have rights protected by the U.S. Constitution. The civil rights movement, as it created awareness of the mistreatment of minorities, served as a backdrop for the victims’ rights movement in that it identified how minorities were mistreated by the criminal justice system, both as offenders and victims. The ideologies of the women’s movement and the civil rights movement merged to create a victims’ rights movement largely supported by females, minorities, and young persons who pushed forward a victims’ agenda that concentrated on making procedural changes in the operation of the criminal justice system

Question 17

What is the National Crime Survey? (NCS)

Answer 17

National Crime Survey: OR (National Crime Survey)
First ever government—sponsored victimization survey; relied on victims to recall their own victimization experiences.

Question 18

What was the Women’s Movement in the 1960’s?

Answer 18

Women’s Movement:
Recognized the need for female victims of crime to receive special attention and help due to the fact that victimizations such as sexual assault and domestic violence are byproducts of sexism, traditional sex roles, emphasis on traditional family values, and the economic subjugation of women.

As a result, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers started appearing in the 1970s. Closely connected to the women’s movement was the push toward giving children rights. Not before viewed as crime victims, children were also identified as being in need of services, for they could be victims of child abuse, could become runaways, and could be victimized in much the same ways as older people. The effects of victimization on children were, at this time, of particular concern.

Question 19

What are a few of some victim organizations?

Answer 19

Families and Friends of Missing Persons was organized in 1974
Parents of Murdered Children was formed in 1978.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving was formed in 1980.
These groups provide support for their members and others but also advocate for laws and policy changes that reflect the groups’ missions.
The National Organization for Victim Assistance was developed in 1975 to consolidate the purposes of the victims’ movement and eventually to hold national conferences and provide training for persons working with crime victims.

Question 20

What state was the first one to pass a Victim’s Bill of Rights in 1980?

Answer 20

Wisconsin. They created the National Organization for Victim Assistance and it was a new policy.
It initiated a National Campaign for Victim Rights, which included a National Victims’ Rights Week, implemented by then-president Ronald Reagan.
The attorney general at the time,
William French Smith, created a Task Force on Violent Crime, which recommended that a President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime be commissioned.

1. Federal legislation to fund state victim compensation programs and local victim assistance programs
2. Recommendations to criminal justice professionals and other professionals about how to better treat crime victims
3. Creation of a task force on violence within families
   An amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide crime victims’ rights (yet to be passed)

Question 21

What was the Victim/Witness Assistance Program by Federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration in 1974?

Answer 21

Notify victims of important dates in their cases, offer social services referrals, provide input
on criminal justice decisions that involve them, and court accompaniment.

First rape crisis center, Bay Area Women Against Rape, founded in California in 1971 by volunteer
Oleta Adams after her 15 year old foster daughter was raped and mistreated by the criminal justice
system (It is still in operation today!)

Question 22

M.A.D.D. (Secondary Victims Organization)

Answer 22

Mothers Against Drunk Drivers: For those who lost a loved one by drunk driving.

Question 23

What is the Victims of Crime Act (1984)? $$

Answer 23

Victims of Crime Act (1984) – established the Crime Victims Fund, which provides
money to state victim compensation and local programs.

Question 24

What did Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (1994) include?

Answer 24

Violence Against Women Act – funds research, professional partnerships (resources and training)

Question 25

What did Ronald Regan implement?

Answer 25

The National Organization for Victim Assistance created a new policy platform that included the initiation of a National Campaign for Victim Rights, which included a National Victims’ Rights Week, implemented by then-president Ronald Reagan. The attorney general at the time, William French Smith, created a Task Force on Violent Crime, which recommended that a President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime be commissioned.
President Reagan followed the recommendation.
The President’s Task Force held six hearings across the country from which 68 recommendations on how crime victims could be better assisted were made. Major initiatives were generated from these recommendations.

Question 26

What did Janet Reno’s publication “New Directions From the Field: Victim’sRights and Services for the 21st Century” enact? (Hint: Victim’s rights Legislation:Giving victims notices of rights of their trial and offender’s release).

Answer 26

Some basic rights typically afforded to victims include the right to be present at trial, to be provided a waiting area separate from the offender and people associated with the offender during stages of the criminal justice process, to be notified of key events in the criminal justice process, to testify at parole hearings, to be informed of rights, to be informed of compensation programs, and to be treated with dignity and respect.
These rights continue to be implemented and expanded through various pieces of legislation,
such as the
Crime Victims’ Rights Act, which is part of the Justice for All Act of 2004 signed into law by then-president George W. Bush.
Despite this push among the various legislatures, a federal victims’ rights constitutional amendment has not been passed. Some states have been successful in amending their constitutions to ensure that the rights of crime victims are protected, but the U.S. Constitution has not been similarly amended.

Question 27

What is intersectionality?

Answer 27

Intersectionality is defined as “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage” (Source: Oxford Dictionary)
• Intersectionality is a framework that we use in research to better understand and acknowledge that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression. We must consider everything and anything that can marginalize people (e.g., gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.)
• Marginalize means treating a person or group as insignificant or less than.