Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

Critical Victimology > Midterm > Flashcards

Midterm Flashcards

(86 cards)

Start Studying
1
Q

What is a victim?

A

Conflicting definitions but generally, someone wronged by someone, some structure or some thing.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

How has the etymology of victim shifted?

A

sacrifice of living creature (1497) -> someone tortured, hurt or killed by another person (1690) -> someone who was taken advantage of by a powerful person or situation, or oppressed in some way (1718)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What year was the verb ‘victimize’ coined?

A

1830

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the CCC definition of a victim?

A

Any person who has been subjected to the acts of an alleged offender who has presumably violated criminal law.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is the UN definition of victim?

A

Those who has suffered from harm (including mental, physical or emotional suffering, economic loss and impairment of basic rights) through acts or omissions that violate the laws of the state.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

How does Nils Christie conceive of victims?

A

He says that being a victim is a subjective experience that relies on the participants’ definition of the situation.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is Tammy Landau’s definition of victim?

A

She says that it is a selective labelling process that has to do with power and culture, not everyone who may feel they are a victim will be widely recognized as such.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

According to critical victimology, is the law objective?

A

No, what is decided by the law is influenced by the interests of the government and powerful forces.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What does ‘Rippling effects of victimization” refer to?

A

Victimization affects more than the initial victim. It affects other groups and people outside of the immediate circle, as this happens, its conceptualization gets muddier.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What are primary victims?

A

Those who were immediately affected by the incident. Ex. Someone who got stabbed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Who are the secondary victims?

A

Someone not immediately involved in the incident, but immediately connected in some way, usually by close relation to victim. Ex. The girlfriend of the person who was stabbed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What are tertiary victims?

A

Farther relationally from the victim but are still affected by the knowledge of the incident, as a member of a community or as someone who has had a past similar experience. Ex. Coworker of the girlfriend of the victim.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is the goal of victimology broadly?

A

Seeks to explain the causes of victimization

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

When were the earliest studies into victimology?

A

The 1940s

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is a paradigm?

A

A distinct set of concepts or thought patterns. including theories, research methods, postulates and standards for what constitutes legitimate contributions to a field.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What are the key paradigms in victimology?

A

Positivist, interpretive and critical.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What are some of the challenging issues raised by victimology?

A

relationship between victims and the state, moral dimensions of victim status, influence of social inequality on victimization

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What does it mean to be critical?

A

To think about how we think and what powers influence that.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is the ultimate goal of critical victimology?

A

The creation of a world that is victim-free (thus the obsoletion of victimology at all)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Why did victimhood dissapear?

A

Because of the shift from small groups with community based conflict resolution to being governed by some forces which means that the state assumes the victim role, and the victim becomes a witness to their victimization.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

When was the re-emergence of thinking about victims?

A

50s-90s

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What were the three main forces that brought forth the victim rights movement?

A

Feminism, civil rights, and the conservative US gov’s War on Crime.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Why did Reagan push the victims rights movement farther?

A

He positioned a tough on crime approach under the guise of victim’s rights.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is the positivist theory?

A

It is a theory of knowledge collection through science grounded in observation. Looks at cause and effect to explain phenomena.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Who first developed positivism?
Emile Durkheim
26
What is Positivism's assumption in victimology?
That you can understand someone's likelihood to be a victim based on their characteristics.
27
What is the method for positivism?
Quantitative data collection of trends, differences, factors, often taken from official legal and police data, to create crime statistics.
28
What are the key characteristics of positivist criminology according to Miers (1989).
focus on identifying victim patterns, almost exclusive focus on interpersonal and street crimes, follows established legal definitions of crime and victims, tends to focus on the role of victims within criminal events.
29
What are victim typologies?
Classifications of patterns of victimization.
30
What was Hans Von Hentig work focused on?
The nature of victim-offender relationships through measuring the risk of victimization that could be attributed to an individual or group (victim vulnerability). The Criminal and HIs Victim (1948).
31
What were the factors that Von Hentig believed caused victim vulnerability?
A mix of biological and social factors
32
What were the types that Von Hentig identified?
The young, the female, the old, the mentally defective, immigrants, minorities, dull normals, depressed, acquisitive, wanton, the lonesome/heartbroken, the tormentor, the blocked/exempted/fighting, the activating sufferer.
33
What was Benjamin Mendelsohn considered? What was his main argument
The father of victimology. Argued that victimology should be a parallel complement to criminology.
34
How did Mendelsohn conceptualize likelihood of victimization?
He said that all people have a varying potential for unconscious propensity to be victimized.
35
How did Mendelsohn typify victims?
Continuum of culpability. Innocent victims, victims with minor guilt, victim as guilty as offender, victim solely responsible, imaginary victim.
36
What is victim precipitation?
The idea that there is shared responsibility between the offender and victim.
37
What were the key studies in victim precipitation theories?
Marvin Wolfgang (1958): patterns in criminal homicide, 26% victim precipitation. Menachem Amir's (1971): patterns in forcible rape, 19% of rapes were victim precipitated.
38
Other theories of victim precipitation.
Helen Eigenberg (2003): if we establish that some victims can be blamed that creates legitimate and illegitimate victims. Dianna Scully (1990): rapists construct culturally acceptable stereotypes about women to blame them for their rape Walia (2020): Structural causes of inequality and power imbalances can manufacture victim vulnerability, often overlooked.
39
What level of sociology does the interpretive strain of victimology work through?
Microsociology
40
What is interpretive approach?
Involves analysis and more detailed studies of people (qualitative), texts, symbols to understand how people construct meaning everyday.
41
What is social constructivism?
Reality is not given it is developed through interaction.
42
What are the main questions in interpretive victimology?
How have social issues been constructed as victimizing, who has the power to define criminality or victimization, why is label of victim not evenly applied, how do people create meanings about victims.
43
What are victim contests?
When portrayal of victims and their causes become topics for open dispute and negotiation. (Holstein and Miller) Depends a lot on identity
44
What are the main differences between positivist and interpretive strains.
Deals with meaning attached to behaviour, sees reality as an active construction rather than an objective reality, relies on qualitative data rather than stats and trends.
45
When did critical strands of thought develop?
1990s, emerges out of feminist criminology and marxist criminology (Sandra Walklate (1990)).
46
How do critical strands of thought define victimization?
A form of structural powerlessness
47
What are the main differences of critical strands of thought from positivism?
Victims are not an objective phenomenon; consideration of the state-corporate nexus; critical unpacking of victim blaming, the ideal victim and intersectionality
48
What is the specific paradigm that critical victimology uses?
Recognizing victimization without the traditional legal framework.
49
How does critical victimology see victim precipitation theories?
Victim blaming
50
What is feminist criminology?
Paradigm that focus on previously excluded groups, acknowledges that the criminal justice arm of the state operates as a form of gender control.
51
What is the biggest advancement made by feminist criminologists?
Redefinition of sexual victimization
52
What does marxist criminology focus on?
The material and structiual basis of power within crime, victimization and conceptions of justice, how crime systems maintain the capitalist economic system and the state.
53
Who are some of the scholars in marxist criminology?
Richard Quinney, McShane & Williams
54
What is left idealism?
A viewpoint that ignores the victim, acknowledges there is more crime in lower income communities but says it is just because of certain social problems that they have.
55
What is Left realism?
A sect of marxist criminology, focuses on crime victims without supporting law and order agendas.
56
Who are leading scholars in abolitionist frameworks?
Beth Richie, Mimi Kim, Angela Davis
57
What is focus of abolitionist frameworks?
State-corporate nexus, argue that capitalist economies and CJS sustain capitalism, contributing to the oppression of marginalized groups. Says that society is meant to be sexist, racist, classist. It is working how it was intended.
58
What type of victimization is best suited to be analyzed with critical approaches?
Victimization that is often not included within conventional legal definitions.
59
How is knowledge conceived of through all approaches?
Positivist: knowledge as an instrument for researchers to manipulate Interpretive: Knowledge as set on capturing inner subjective experiences Critical: knowledge as active change in the world
60
What is theory?
System of ideas intended to explain or make sense of something. Gives us organizing concepts, frames research questions and interpretation.
61
What do victimology theories do?
Describe different ways of explaining victimization and understanding victims
62
What does theory rely on
logical consistency, testable assumptions, modification and adaptation.
63
What are the factors considered for different methods?
Coverage: how can we obtain reliable and valid data on the scope and nature of victimization? Reliability: how consistent are the results? Validity: does the tool actually measure victimization the way we think it does? Methodology: do the methods used to count victimization hold up under critical analysis.
64
What are the methods of measuring victimization?
Official police reported stats, victimization surveys, institutional data and inquests/quasi-judicial measures.
65
What are the two main type of reporting the police use?
Uniform crime reports and UCR incident based survey
66
What are victimization surveys? What is their benefit?
Questionnaire survey that asks a sample of people whether they have been a crime victim. They capture crimes not included in UCR data and offer more information on experience of victim.
67
What is institutional data?
Data gathered from social, health and community institutions. Ex. Canadian incident study of reported child abuse and neglect
68
What is rate of violent crime in Canada?
7/10 victimization experiences are non-violent
69
What age is the most at risk for victimization?
15-24
70
Who is least likely to experience victimization?
Retired people, but also tend to report higher rates of fear of crime.
71
What is Nils Christie's (1986) theory about the modern operation of conflict?
He says that modern societies don't have enough conflict, and therefore conflict resolution that allows for people to develop these skills. If people are more involved in the processes of resolving things with each other we avoid certain crimes and victimization. The agency to solve issues has been taken by the state.
72
What is the function of conflict for Christie?
Redefining group norms and refining the skills of conflict resolution
73
What does Christie advocate for?
The end of categorization of victims as ideal or non ideal
74
What are the attributes of an ideal victim according to Christie (1986)
- victim weak or helpless - victim perceived as socially respectable - victim in a situation not of their own fault, has taken reasonable steps to mitigate risk of victimization - offender was big and bad - offender was unknown to victim - victim powerful enough to make case known
75
What does Christie (1986) say about offenders?
Ideal victims come with ideal offenders.
76
What is media logic? who coined it?
David Altheide and Robert Snow (1979). The way that information is organized, presented and abbreviated in media that has agenda setting powers and transforms how events are interpreted and understood.
77
What are problem frames?
The fact that there is a limited frame of what can be said in a news article and the presentation of issue and solution is limited.
78
How are problems normally framed in media?
something undesirable exists, relevant to people, issue aspects are easily identified, it can be changed or fixed, there is a way to fix it, the process is known.
79
What is the hierarchy of victims?
The extent to which a victim is deemed newsworthy depending on gender, race, sexuality and class. Status of both victim and offender matter.
80
What do Herman and Chomsky (1988) say about media?
That it is manufacturing consent for the dominant group's opinion by shaping people's opinions.
81
What do Herman and Chomsky say about media reporting on crime?
That is evokes feelings of distrust amongst the working class, intensifying individualism, fear of crime, which operates as a form of social control. Promotes fear of the other
82
How does true crime affect victim perception?
Enhances and dramatizes real stories with real victims, turning them into consumable content.
83
What is the effect of social media on victim perception?
Can result in new and intensifed methods of cybervictimization, reinforce victim stereotypes, create new problem frames, and create citizen journalists
84
What are citizen journalists?
Regular people who become reporters for the things that they are facing, they can bring attention to conventionally non-newsworthy victims.
85
What are the features of newsworthiness according to Gilchrist?
Dramatic, unusual, fit within continuing news theme, spatial and culturally relevant to audience.
86
What were the differences that Gilchrist identified between the portrayal of missing/murdered Indigenous women versus white women.
- less articles - smaller print - less likely to be on front page - less in depth and compassionate writing - less personal headlines - "symbolic annihilation of Indigenous women

Critical Victimology (2 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions