Victimology

• Patterns of Victimology:

  > class - the poor are more likely to be victims

  > age - those most at risk of being murdered are infants under 1, while teenagers are more vulnerable to assault, sexual harassment or abuse

  > ethnicity - ethnic minorities are more at risk than white people

  > gender - 70% of homicide victims are male, females are more likely to be victims of domestic and sexual violence or harassment

  > repeat victimisation - you are more likely to be a victim if you have already been one, homeless people are 17 times more likely to have been victims of violence
• Explanations:

  > positivist victimology

  > critical victimology

  > impact of victimisation
• Positivist Victimology:

  > identifies factors that make individuals more likely to be victims

  > victim proneness - the characteristics that make victims different from and more vulnerable than non-victims e.g. Hans Von Hentig identified 13 characteristics, such as being female, elderly or having a lower IQ

  > victim precipitation - people are victims because they provoked something e.g. Wolfgang studied 588 homicides and found that 26% involved the victim triggering the events
• Critical Victimology (1):

  > based on conflict theories and looks at two elements:

  > structural factors - how patriarchy and poverty would make some people, like women and the poor, at greater risk of victimisation e.g. rape in marriage was legal until 1989
• Critical Victimology (2):

  > the state's power to apply or deny the label of victim - victim is a social construct, so people can be denied victim status e.g. victims in many rape cases are often denied official victim status - 1% of rape cases end in a conviction

  > Tombs - 'safety crimes', where employers' violations of the law led to death or injury, are often explained as the fault of accident-prone workers - Bhopal disaster

  > this function hides the crimes of the powerful and denies the powerless any compensation - not acknowledged by the state
• Impact of Victimisation (1):

  > crime may have serious physical and emotional impacts on victims

  > crime may create indirect victims, such as friends and relatives

  > hate crimes against minorities create waves of harm by affecting whole communities, not just the primary victim
• Impact of Victimisation (2):

  > secondary victimisation - individuals may suffer further victimisation in the CJS e.g. feminists argue that police and the courts treat rape victims poorly, which amounts to a double violation

  > fear of victimisation - crime may create fear of becoming a victim even if such fears are irrational e.g. women are more afraid of going out due to fear of attack