Victimiology

• CSEW data released in 2017 showed that men were slightly more likely to be victims of crime than women; and that young people (both men and women) were most likely to be victims
• According to the CSEW, people of mixed race were the most likely ethnicity to be victims (more than twice as likely as white people, who were the least likely to be victims of crime among larger ethnic groups)
• According to the CSEW, unemployed people and students were the most likely people to be victims of crime.
• According to CSEW, people in more deprived areas were more likely to be a victim than those in more prosperous areas.
• Critical victimology focuses on how social structure affects the likelihood of being a victim to crime
• In terms of the 2017 CSEW data, critical victimologists would suggest that, for instance, structural problems in society account for the high proportion of unemployed people and people in deprived areas being the victims of crime
• Spencer and Walklate (2016) identify three main features of critical criminology:

  1. Examining the role of the state in the social construction of victimhood
  2. Looking at the broader scale of victims of crime, including those unaware of being victims
  3. Critiquing the process of victim blaming
• (Critical) Tombs and Whyte (2007) suggests that the state fails to acknowledge victim status of those who are victims of corporate crime or state crime. For example, the Liverpool fans at Hillsborough in 1989 were not seen as victims, but rather as responsible for their own fate- the verdict was death by misadventure
• An example of another failure of the state to acknowledge victim status can be seen through crimes committed by the state which often does not award its victims, but instead the state justifies its own actions. For example, the police shooting of Mark Duggan in 2011 (London Riots started because of this)- Duggan was portrayed as dangerous
• Critical AO3- Examines the social construction of victims, which gives a voice to those that are denied this status by the media and the state
• Positivist victimology argued that people contribute towards their own victimhood through having certain characteristics or behaviours (e.g. walking home alone in the dark, leaving a window open)
• Positivists use the CSEW to help explain their theory in victimisation patterns. For example, young people are much more likely to be victims than middle-aged people and this could be because they are much more likely to get drunk and stay out late
• (Positivist) AO3- Positivists have been accused of victim blaming- there have been a number of cases where prosecutors and judges have implied that women's behaviour or dress have contributed to a sexual assault, resulting in reduced sentences. This can lead to protests and concerns about "rape culture"
• (Positivists) AO3- Furthermore, blaming the victim takes away some of the blame from the criminal. They blame the victim for putting temptation in the way of the criminal rather than blaming the criminal (or society) for committing the crime