Victimisation

Question 0

Explain victim proneness

Answer 0

The social and psychological factors of victims that make them vulnerable

Question 1

What 3 features does positivist victimology have?

Answer 1

1) It aims to identify factors that produce patterns in victimisation
2) Focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence
3) Aims to identify victims who have contributed to their own victimisation

Question 2

What 3 characteristics did Hans Von Hentig identify that are likely to make a person more vulnerable to becoming a victim?

Answer 2

1) Female
2) Elderly
3) ‘Mentally subnormal’

Question 3

Name a lifestyle factor that can contribute to becoming a victim

Answer 3

Individuals who ostentatiously display their wealth

Question 4

What did Wolfgang’s study of 588 homicides find?

Answer 4

That 26% of the homicides involved victim precipitation

Question 5

What is victim precipitation?

Answer 5

Where the victims triggered the events leading to the crime, e.g. being the first to use violence leading up to a homicide

Question 6

What are 4 evaluation point of positivist victimology? (1 positive, 3 negative)

Answer 6

1) Wolfgang shows the importance of the victim-offender relationship and the fact that in many homicides, it is a matter of chance which party becomes the victim
2 Identifies patterns of interpersonal victimisation, but ignores wider structural influencing victimisation, such as poverty and patriarchy
3) Can easily tip over into victim blaming
4) Ignores situations where the victim is unaware of their victimisation, e.g. environmental crimes

Question 7

What 2 elements does critical victimology focus on?

Answer 7

1) Structural factors such as poverty and patriarchy

2) The state’s power to apply of deny the label of victim

Question 8

What do Mawby and Walklate say that victimisation is a form of?

Answer 8

Structural powerlessness

Question 9

Give 2 examples of how the state denies the victim of label in a way that benefits the powerful

Answer 9

1) In rape cases the state often denies the label of victim to the woman and this protects the man, the powerful one.
2) ‘Safety crimes’, where employers violations of the law lead to injury of workers, are often explained away as the fault of ‘accident prone’ workers, protecting the powerful employer.

Question 10

What happens in the hierarchy of victimisation?

Answer 10

The powerless are most likely to be victimised but are less likely to have this recognised by the state

Question 11

What are 2 evaluation points of critical victimology? (1 positive and 1 negative)

Answer 11

1) Valuable in drawing attention to the way that ‘victim’ status is constructed power and how this benefits the powerful at the expense of the powerless
2) Disregards the role that victims play in bringing victimisation on themselves, e.g. not making their home secure, or their own offending

Question 12

What are the 4 social groups involved in the patterns of victimisation?

Answer 12

1) Class
2) Age
3) Gender
4) Ethnicity

Question 13

What are the patterns of victimisation relating to class?

Answer 13

• Poorest are most likely to become victims of crime

- Homeless people are 12 times more likely to experience violence than then general population

Question 14

What are the patterns of victimisation relating to age?

Answer 14

• Infants under the age of 1 are at most risk of being murdered
• Teenagers are at most risk of assault, sexual harassment, theft and abuse at home
• The elderly are at more risk of abuse, e.g. at nursing homes where victimisation is less visible

Question 15

What are the patterns of victimisation relating to ethnicity?

Answer 15

• Ethnic minority groups are at greater risk of becoming victims of crime in general than whites
• Ethnic minorities are most likely to report feeling under-protected yet over-controlled

Question 16

What are the pattern of victimisation relating to gender?

Answer 16

• Males are at greater risk of becoming victims of violent crimes, 70% of homicide victims are male
• Women are at greater risk of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking and harassment, people trafficking.

Question 17

What does repeat victimisation refer to?

Answer 17

The fact that if you have been a victim once then you are very likely to become a victim again

Question 18

What did the British Crime Survey find in relation to repeat victimisation?

Answer 18

That 60% of the general population have not yet been victims of crime in a given year, yet a mere 4% of the population are victims of 44% of all crimes in that given year

Question 19

What physical and emotional impacts may crime have on victims?

Answer 19

1) Disturbed sleep

2) Feelings of helplessness

Question 20

What may crime create?

Answer 20

Indirect victims, such as family and friends

Question 21

What does Pynoos find about indirect victims?

Answer 21

That children who are witnesses to a sniper attack continue to have grief related dreams a year after the event

Question 22

What is secondary victimisation?

Answer 22

The idea that in addition to the impact of the crime itself, individuals may suffer further victimisation at the hands of the criminal justice system

Question 23

What do feminists say about secondary victimisation?

Answer 23

That rape victims are often so poorly treated by the police and courts that it amounts to a double violation

Question 24

Explain fear of victimisation

Answer 24

Crime may create fear of becoming a victim, e.g. attacks of violence at night may prevent women from going out late

Question 25

What do some sociologists argue about fear of victimisation?

Answer 25

That is irrational, e.g. women are more afraid of going out for fear of attack, yet it is young men who are the main victims of violence from strangers

Question 26

Why do feminists attack the emphasis on ‘fear of crime’?

Answer 26

They argue that it focuses on women’s passivity and psychological state, when we should be focusing on their safety, i.e. on the structural threat of patriarchal violence they face