Explaining victimisation Flashcards
(17 cards)
how are crime statistics socially constructed?
Who is counted as a victim of crime is socially constructed, as it depends on the attachment of the label of victim.
Some may deny their victimisation, and there are many unreported and unrecorded victims who never come to the attention of the criminal justice system, such as victims of domestic and sexual violence, and of white collar and corporate crime.
- unreported crimes
- dont know they are victims
- refusal of acceptance of label
- denied label
how can the state deny a victim label?
The state’s power to apply or deny the label of victimcan distort the actual extent of victimisation. From a critical criminological perspective, the state often sides with the powerful, and does not define their exploitative and harmful acts as crimes.
Tombs and Whyte (2007) for example showed that employers’ violations of health and safety law which led to thousands of deaths of workers in the UK each year are typically explained away as industrial accidents, thus leaving no one to blame and leaving the injured and dead workers as non-victims.
Tombs and Whyte
Tombs and Whyte (2007) for example showed that employers’ violations of health and safety law which led to thousands of deaths of workers in the UK each year are typically explained away as industrial accidents, thus leaving no one to blame and leaving the injured and dead workers as non-victims.
how do feminists see the social construction of victims
From a Feminist point of view sexism within the CJS means that most women who are victims of DV and rape fail to come forward, and those who are do are often treated as the guilty party themselves in court, and so are often denied formal victim status and justice.
Tombs and White note that there is an ideological function of this ‘failure to label’ or ‘de- labelling’ – by concealing the true extent of victimisation and its real causes, it hides the crimes of the powerful and denies the victims any justice.
what do tombs and whyte note about the ideological function of labelling?
Tombs and White note that there is an ideological function of this ‘failure to label’ or ‘de- labelling’ – by concealing the true extent of victimisation and its real causes, it hides the crimes of the powerful and denies the victims any justice.
what does hoyle say the impact of victimisation is?
Anger
Anxiety
Depression
Withdrawal
Panic
Shock
PTSD
Disrupted Sleep
Poor Health
Powerlessness
Fear of further victimisation
what is secondary victimsation according to Walklate?
how victims are treated once they are labelled as a victim
Secondary Victimisation
Court Cases
Victim Blaming
Rape Trials
Honour Crimes
what are the three main features of positivist victimology according mier?
Mier’s (1989) defines Positivist victimology as having three main features:
It aims to identify the factors that produce patterns in victimisation
It focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence
It aims to identify how victims have contributed to their own victimisation.
what is victim proneness and which study supports this?
Examining how victims may contribute to their own victimization. Early positivist studies explored “victim proneness,” aiming to identify the social and psychological traits that make some people more vulnerable.
Von Hentig (1948) identified 13 victim characteristics, such as being female, elderly, or “mentally subnormal,” implying that certain individuals may “invite” victimization based on who they are
what is victim precipitation and what is the problem with this?
refers to situations where the victim was the initial aggressor in the action that led to their harm or loss
i.e. did you lock the car etc
blames the victim!!!
suggests that victims are actively involved in, or to blame for their victimisation i.e. women making themselves vulnerable by dressing ‘proactively’ or ‘leading men on’ in rape cases. This could also be victims failing to lock doors or conceal valuables in cars, or carrying large amounts of cash around.
Evaluate positivist victimology?
Victim blaming’.
It ignores wider structural factors such as poverty and powerlessness which make somepeople more likely to be victims than others.
It downplays the role of the law in not tackling crime efficiently.
It ignores that some people don’t even realise they are victims i.e. corporate or environmental crime.
What was Marvin Wolfgangs study about homicide?
He found that 26% involved victim precipitation – the victim triggered the events leading to the homicide, for instance, being the first to use violence.
what is critical victimology and what do they believe?
they believe that:
Poverty puts people at risk of being victims
Patriarchy puts women at risk of being victims
Global power has led to more victims
Zemiology would depict the true number of victims
how does poverty put people at risk?
Structural factors are important in explaining why some people are more likely to be victims of crime than others. Factors such as poverty and patriarchy make some people more likely to victims of crime than others.
Structural factors are important, because from a Marxist perspective poverty and inequality breed crime and thus living in a poor area means that you are more likely to be both a criminal and a victim of crime. Feminists emphasise that the structure of Patriarchy perpetuates crimes against women such as sex-trafficking and domestic violence, meaning that women are far more likely to be victims of sex-crimes than men.
how does global power lead to more victims:
At another level, global power structures mean that many people are the victims of harms done by Western Corporations and State Crimes carried out by Western World Governments (Bhopal and the Drone Wars are two good examples) and yet victims in faraway places are highly unlikely to see justice. Criminologists who focus on ethnicity and crime would also suggest that Structural Racism means it more likely that ethnic minorities are going to face not only racial crime from the general public, but also discrimination at the hands of the police.
how will zemiology overcome this according to critical sociologists?
To overcome this, critical criminologists suggest that criminologists should focus on ‘Zemiology’ (the study of harm) rather than the study of crime, to pick up on the true nature and extent of victimisation in the world today.
Evaluate critical victimology:
It disregards the role victims may play in bringing crime on themselves (e.g. not making their home secure).
Realists argue that it isn’t the job of criminologists to criticise governments and the police, this isn’t the most effective way to reduce crime and thus help victims of ‘ordinary crimes’ such as street violence and burglary.
