Introduction to

Victimology
+ Victimology 
+   
+       Victimology is the scientific study of the psychological
effects of crime and the relationship between victims and
offender. It examines victim patterns and tendencies; studies
how victims interact with the police and the legal system; and
analyzes how factors of class, race, and sexual orientation affect
the perception of the victim by different constituents, including
the public, the court system, and the media. 
+       Victimology, branch of criminology that scientifically studies
the relationship between an injured party and an offender by
examining the causes and the nature of the consequent
suffering. Specifically, victimology focuses on whether the
perpetrators were complete strangers, mere acquaintances,
friends, family members, or even intimates and why a particular
person or place was targeted. Criminal victimization may inflict
economic costs, physical injuries, and psychological harm. 
+ Victimology is enriched by other fields of study,
particularly psychology, social work, sociology, economics, law,
and political science. Whereas lawyers, criminal
justice officials, counselors, therapists, and medical
professionals provide the actual services, victimologists study
the kinds of help injured parties need and the effectiveness of
efforts intended to make them “whole again,” both financially
and emotionally.  
+ Forensic victimology: the study of violent crime victims for the
purposes of addressing investigative and forensic questions. It
involves the accurate, critical, and objective outlining of a
victim’s lifestyles and circumstances, the events leading up to
an injury, and the precise nature of any harm or loss suffered. 
+   
+ General victimology: the study of victimity in the broadest
sense, including those that have been harmed by accidents,
natural disasters, war, and so on. 
+ To understand this concept, first, we must understand what the
terms victim and perpetrator mean. 
+          The victim is a person who has been harmed by a
perpetrator. The perpetrator, also known as the offender, is an
individual who has committed the crime against the victim. Law
enforcement agencies use the study of victimology and the
theories of victimology to determine why the victim was
targeted by the offender. 
+ Who is a victim of crime 
+        A victim is defined as a person who has suffered physical or emotional harm, property
damage, or economic loss as a result of a crime.  Crime victim generally refers to any
person, group or entity who suffered from injury or loss due to illegal activity. The harm can
be physical, psychological or economic. 
+   
+ Legally , “ Victim” typically includes the following : 
+ a. A person who has suffers direct or threatened physical, emotional, or financial harm as a
result of the commission of a crime. 
+ b. In the case of a victim being an institutional entity, any of the same harms by an
individual or authorized representative of another entity. 
+   
History of Victimology

+ The fathers of Victimology are two criminologist Benjamin

Mendelson and Von Hentig. 
+   
+ Benjamin Mendelson – 
+          He coined the term Victimology in the year 1947  by deriving from the latin term
“victim” and the Greek term “logos” meaning science of victims. The term “Victimology,”
therefore, relates to the term “victim.” The term “victim” dates back to ancient cultures
and civilizations. 
+   
+          Benjamin Mendelson was a Romanian attorney, whose first study on victims was
published in Belgium Criminology journal in the year 1937. This study was based on the
result of such way that he made amongst the criminals, their families and their victims. The
result of the survey convinced him that the personality of the victim was crucial in attracting
the criminal. He created a ''victim typology'' which became controversial because of its
emphasis that, in most criminal cases, it is the victim's attitude that leads them to be
victimized. 
 Mendelsohn’s Typology of Crime Victims

Someone who did not contribute to the victimization and is in the wrong place at
Innocent victim the wrong time. This is the victim we most often envision when thinking about
enhancing victim rights.

The victim with Does not actively participate in their victimization but contributes to it in some minor
minor guilt degree, such as frequenting high-crime areas. This would be a person that continues to
go to a bar that is known for nightly assault.
The guilty victim, Victim and offender may have engaged in criminal activity together. This would be
guilty offender two people attempting to steal a car, rob a store, sell drugs, etc.
The guilty
offender, guiltier The victim may have been the primary attacker, but the offender won the fight.
victim

Guilty victim The victim instigated a conflict but is killed in self-defense. An example would be an
abused woman killing her partner while he is abusing her.

Imaginary victim Some people pretend to be victims and are not. This would be someone falsifying
reports.
+ Hans Von Hentig 
+        Hans Von Hentig took a similar approach in his article
“remark on the Interaction of perpetrations and victim” in
which he wrote that possession of money has to do with
robbery. He advanced a dynamic conception of the genesis of
crime viewed from the perspective of criminology. 
 He argued that crime victims could be placed into one of 13
categories based on their propensity for victimization:

Young people Immature, under adult supervision, lack physical strength and lack the mental
and emotional maturity to recognize victimization

Females/elderly Lack of physical strength

Mentally ill/intellectually disabled Can be taken advantage of easily

Immigrants Cannot understand language or threat of deportation makes them vulnerable

Minorities Marginalized in society, so vulnerable to victimization.

Dull normals Reasonably intelligent people who are naive or vulnerable in some way. These people
are easily deceived.

Gullable, easily swayed, and not vigilant.

The depressed
Greedy and can be targeted for scammers who would take advantage of their desire
The acquisitive
for financial gain.

The lonesome and broken-hearted Often prone to victimization by intimate partners. They desire to be with someone at
any cost. They are susceptible to manipulation.

Tormentors Primary abusers in relationships and become victims when the one being abused
turns on them.

Blocked, exempted, and fighting victims Enter situations in which they are taken advantage such as blackmail.
+ Marvin Wolfgang 
+     Marvin Wolfgang ,(born November 14, 1924,
Millersburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died April 12,
1998, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), American criminologist who
was described by the British Journal of Criminology as “the
most influential criminologist in the English-speaking world.” 
+ The phrase 'victim precipitation' was first introduced by 20th
century criminologist Marvin Wolfgang, in his article
entitled Victim Precipitated Criminal Homicide. Victim
precipitation theory is most commonly associated with crimes
like homicide, rape, assault, and robbery. In this theory,
Wolfgang describes the victim as the first in the homicide
drama to use physical force against his subsequent slayer. He
reported that in Philadelphia, 26 % of homicide cases are victim
participated.
+         This happens in two ways: first, the victim is the participant in
the crime who acts first; and second, the victim encourages or
provokes the offender to commit the crime. These are the primary
components of the victim precipitation theory.
+ Three factors common to victim-precipitated homicides:
+ (1) The victim and offender had some prior interpersonal
relationship, 
+ (2) there was a series of escalating disagreements between the
parties, and
+ (3) The victim had consumed alcohol.
+ Stephen Schafer 
+        Moving from classifying victims on the basis of propensity
or risk and yet still focused on the victim– offender relationship,
Stephen Schafer’s (1968) typology classifies victims on the basis
of their “functional responsibility.” Victims’ dual role was to
function so that they did not provoke others to harm them
while also preventing such acts. Schafer’s seven-category
functional responsibility typology ranged . 
+ Developed typology of victim responsibility for crime
-unrelated victims                  (no responsibility)
-provocative victims              (share responsibility)
-precipitative victims            (some degree of responsibility)
-biologically weak victims    (no responsibility)
-socially weak victims           (no responsibility)
-self victimizing                       (total responsibility)
-political victims                      (no responsibility) 
+   
+ Menachem Amir 
+ Several years later, Menachem Amir (1971) undertook one of the first
studies of rape. On the basis of the details in the Philadelphia police
rape records, Amir reported that 19% of all forcible rapes were
victim precipitated by such factors as the use of alcohol by both
parties; seductive actions by the victim; and the victim’s wearing of
revealing clothing, which could tantalize the offender to the point of
misreading the victim’s behavior. His work was criticized by the
victim’s movement and the feminist movement as blaming the
victim.
Theories in Victimology
+        Victimology does not have many theories exclusively from
the perspective of victims. However, some of the theoretical
explanations from Criminology of crime causation are borrowed
by Victimologists to understand 19 crime victimization. 
+   
+ Lifestyle Exposure Theory 
+          They theorized that an individual’s demographics (e.g., age,
sex) tended to influence one’s lifestyle, which in turn increased his or
her exposure to risk of personal and property victimization. For
instance, according to Hindelang et al., one’s sex carries with it
certain role expectations and societal constraints; it is how the
individual reacts to these influences that determines one’s lifestyle. If
females spend more time at home, they would be exposed to fewer
risky situations involving strangers and hence experience fewer
stranger-committed victimizations. 
+ Using the principle of homogamy, Hindelang et al. (1978) also argued that
lifestyles that expose people to a large share of would-be offenders increase one’s
risk of being victimized. Homogamy would explain why young persons are more
likely to be victimized than older people, because the young are more likely to
hang out with other youth, who commit a disproportionate amount of violent and
property crimes. 
+        Lifestyle theory suggests that certain people may become the victims of
crimes because of their lifestyles and choices. For example, someone with a
gambling or substance addiction could be as an “easy victim” by a con artist.
Walking alone at night in a dangerous area, conspicuously wearing expensive
jewelry, leaving doors unlocked and associating with known criminals are other
lifestyle characteristics that may lead to victimization
+ The equivalent group hypothesis: victims and criminals share similar
characteristics because they are not actually separate groups, and a
criminal lifestyle exposes people to increased levels of victimization
risks.
+      The proximity hypothesis: some people willingly put themselves
in jeopardy by choosing high risk lifestyles or because they are
forced to live in close physical proximity to criminals (they are in the
wrong place and the wrong time).
+      The deviant place hypothesis: there are natural areas for crime,
e.g., poor, densely populated, highly transient neighborhoods in
which commercial and residential property exist side by side. 
+ Routine Activities Theory ( Lawrence Cohen & Marcus Felson
1979)
+     Routine activities theory does not attempt to explain
participation in crime but instead focuses on how opportunities
for crimes are related to the nature of patterns of routine social
interaction, including one’s work, family, and leisure activities.  
+          This theory says that crime occurs whenever three conditions come
together: (i) suitable targets; (ii) motivated offenders; and (iii) absence of
guardians.
+ (1) suitable targets - and we'll always have suitable targets as long as we have
poverty;
+ (2) motivated offenders - and we'll always have motivated offenders since
victimology, unlike deterministic criminology, assumes anyone will try to get away
with something if they can; and
+ (3) absence of guardians - the problem is that there's few defensible spaces
(natural surveillance areas) and in the absence of private security, the government
can't do the job alone.
+   
+ Victim Precipitation Theory 
+       Von Hentig’s work was the basis for victim precipitation. Victim precipitation
suggests many victims play a role in their victimization. The victim precipitation
theory suggests that the characteristics of the victim precipitate the crime. That is,
a criminal could single out a victim because the victim is of a certain ethnicity,
race, and sexual orientation, gender or gender identity. 
+       This theory does not only involve hate crimes directed at specific groups of
people. It might also involve occupations or activities. For example, someone who
is opposed to his or her views may target a political activist. An employee may
target a recently promoted employee if he or she believes they deserved the
promotion.
+   
+ Victim precipitation examines the actions of the victim at the time of
the victimization. Dr. Larry Siegel, professor of criminology,
developed two types of victim precipitation that contribute to
situated transactions. 
+        The first type is the active victim who starts the action by
threatening or using physical violence 
+         The second type is the passive victim who finds themselves in a
vulnerable position based on promises of gifts, rewards, or
employment in exchange for some type of favor or act demanded
by the offender. 
+ Situated transaction  model 
+        Luckenbill's research found that in some homicide cases
there were collective situational transactions between a victim,
offender, and a third party. This three-way transaction escalates
the interaction between the victim and the offender when each
attempts to preserve their honor in front of a group, ending
with a homicide. 
+          This model in homicides developed by Dr. David
Luckenbill, researcher and sociologist. The three factors are 
+ the location of the victim and the offender 
+ the victim precipitates the confrontation 
+ an ensuing interaction and exchange between them with a
homicidal result 
+ The stages go like this: 
+ (1) insult - "Your Momma"; 
+ (2) clarification - "Whaddya say about my Mother"; 
+  (3) retaliation - "I said your Momma and you too"; 
+ (4) counter retaliation - "Well, you're worse than my Momma"; 
+  (5) presence of weapon - or search for a weapon or clenching of
fists; 
+  (6) onlookers - presence of audience helps escalate the situation.
+ Benjamin & Master's Threefold Model 
+  This one is found in a variety of criminological studies, from prison riots to strain
theories. The idea is that conditions that support crime can be classified into three
general categories: 
+ (1) precipitating factors - time, space, being in the wrong place at the wrong time; 
+ (2) attracting factors - choices, options, lifestyles (the sociological expression
"lifestyle" refers to daily routine activities as well as special events one engages in
on a predictable basis); 
+ (3) predisposing factors - all the sociodemographic characteristics of victims,
being male, being young, being poor, being a minority, living in squalor, being
single, being unemployed. 
+   
+ Deviant Place Theory 
+ There is some overlap between the lifestyle theory and the deviant place theory. The
deviant place theory states that an individual is more likely to become the victim of a crime
when exposed to dangerous areas. In other words, a mugger is more likely to target a
person walking alone after dark in a bad neighborhood. The more frequently a person
ventures into bad neighborhoods where violent crime is common, the greater the risk of
victimization. 
+ There is also some overlap between the deviant place theory and socioeconomic
approaches to victimization. Low-income households are more likely to be located in or
near dangerous areas of town, and individuals from poor socioeconomic backgrounds are
less capable of moving away from these dangerous areas. 
+