Victimology Flashcards
(18 cards)
Victimology
Victimology is the study of victims of crime and examines The psychological effects of crime on the victims
The interactions between victims and the criminal justice system
Relationships between victims and the offender
Patterns of Victimisation
Social class
Age
Ethnicity
Gender
Repeat victimisation
Victim Participation
The extent to which a victim is responsible for their own victimisation.
Victim Facilitation/Precipitation
This occurs when a victim unintentionally makes it easier for the offender to commit the crime.
Victim Facilitation
Someone leaves their laptop on the front seat of a car in plain view, then the car is broken into – the victim has facilitated this victimisation by leaving the laptop in clear view.
This does not make the victim blameworthy, however it made the victim an easier target.
Victim Provocation
This occurs when a person does something that incites another person to commit the illegal act. Provocation suggests that without the victims behaviours the crime would not have occurred. Implies blame towards the victim. In this instance the offender is not at all responsible.
Positivist Victimology
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
Hans Von Hentig
Victim proneness
= 13 characteristics increase chance
This is the idea that someone’s characteristics make them more likely to become a victim
Some examples of the 13 characteristics
Young.
Female.
Old.
An immigrant.
May have a mental illness.
The acquisitive (wanting to seek money or material gain).
Marvin Wolfgang
Study of 558 homicides to see if victim contributed towards their own deaths…(26%)
suggests victims ‘invite’ or ‘encourage’ crime to occur.
Benjamin Mendelsohn
6 classifications of culpability (degree of victim blaming).
Six classifications of culpability
-Completely innocent (no responsibility)
-Victim with minor guilt (ignorance, put themselves in harm’s way)
-Victim as guilty as offender (responsible same way as offender is)
-Victim more guilty than offender (intigates/provokes victimisation)
-Most guilty victim (victimised during the crime or as a result of the crime)
-Simulating or imaginary victim (not victimised at all, fabricates the event))
Stephen Schafer
Schafer proposed victim responsibility in different categories
-Unrelated victims (no responsibility)
-Provocative victims (shared responsibility)
-Biologically weak victims (no responsibility)
-Precipative victims (some degree of responsibility)
-Socially weak victims (no responsibility)
-Self victimising (total responsibility)
-Political victims (no responsibility)
CRITICAL VICTIMOLOGY
Critical victimology is based on conflict theories. The ‘powerless’ are most vulnerable to victimisation,
Groups such as women, the lower-class, and racial minorities are structurally at a higher risk of victimization.
Mawby & Walklate (1994)
Victimisation is a form of ‘structural powerlessness’ - working class are victims of exploitation and the state
Watts, Bessant and Hill (2008)
The state has the power to define who is labelled a ‘victim’ - Example: Before 1991 it was legal to rape your wife, therefore a wife was not seen as a victim.
Impact of victimisation
The way an individual responds to a crime will depend on things like the type of crime, whether they know the offender, the support they get from friends and family and their past experiences of crime.
It’s not just the victim who is affected, all of the above can have negative effects on relationships and children if a member of a family is the victim of crime.
Secondary victimization
when victims relive the trauma of the crime, which may happen in court proceedings or through harassment by the media.
