COR JESU COLLEGE, INC.
The School of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart Avenue, Digos City, Philippines
Tel. No. (082) 553 – 2433 local 105* Fax No.: (082) 553 – 2433
Website: www.cjc.edu.ph * Email: cjccollegedepartment@yahoo.com
COLLEGE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN CRIMINOLOGY
Human Behavior
And
Victimology
RHEA MAE T ARATAN CSP RCRIM MSCJ (UNITS)
Subject Instructor
COR JESU COLLEGE, INC.
Sacred Heart Ave., Digos City
COLLEGE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS
COURSE CAT. NO. CRIM 3
COURSE TITLE Human Behavior and Victimology
COURSE CREDIT 3 units
CONTACT
2 ½ hours per meeting / once per week
HOURS/WEEK
PREREQUISITE CRIM 1
INSTRUCTOR Rhea Mae T. Aratan CSP RCRIM MSCJ (UNITS)
The course covers the study on human behavior with emphasis
on the concept of human development and abnormal behavior.
It includes strategies and approaches in handling different kinds
COURSE
of abnormal behavior in relation to law enforcement and criminal
DESCRIPTION
proceedings. It also includes the study of victimization, the role
of community and techniques in assisting offender’s
reintegration and victim’s recovery.
At the end of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Understand and interpret the Concepts, Theories, and
Evolution of Human Development;
2. Classify and Differentiate Typologies of Human Behavior,
Criminal, and personality disorder;
COURSE OUTCOMES
3. Legal defense on account of behavior issues and Legal
Responses to Offenders suffering from mental disorder
such as but not limited to insanity, PTSD, minority, senility
and others; and
4. Define the Nature, concept, & causes of victimization and
typology of crime victim.
Drawing out the best in you!” Page 2
COR JESU COLLEGE, INC.
Sacred Heart Ave., Digos City
COLLEGE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS
MODULE 4
TOPIC Victimology
✔ Definition
✔ Elaboration
TYPE OF ACTIVITIES
✔ Evaluation
✔ Research
This chapter presents concepts, models, theories, and
research studies concerning victimology. It also includes
topics about rights of victims based on international and
national legal standards.
At the end of the discussions, the student will be able to:
LEARNING TARGET(S)
✔ Understand what are the roles of the victim in the
prevention of crimes.
✔ To learn about the importance of victims in
solving the crime.
✔ Applying the knowledge learned in the real field.
✔ Adra, M., et.al (2020) Human Behavior and
Victimology. Mindshaper Publishing House.
✔ Amparado, M. (2020) Introduction to Criminology.
REFERENCE(S)
REX Book Store.
✔ Castillo, R. & Guerrero. (2022) Introduction to
Criminology. Wiseman’s Books Trading Inc.
Drawing out the best in you!” Page 3
COR JESU COLLEGE, INC.
Sacred Heart Ave., Digos City
COLLEGE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS
VICTIMOLOGY
Concept / Digest:
Victimology is the study about victims of crime. It is a branch of Criminology that deals purely on
the underlying factors (BASIC INGREDIENT / FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT) of victimization and
the contributory role of the victims in the commission of crimes.
Victimology, being the study of “crime targets”, showed that a person becomes a victim of crime
consciously (knowingly) and unconsciously (unknowingly). A person could become a victim due
to his own action or fault. He somehow contributes to the commission of crime because of his
own making. The effects of crime differ from one person to another.
Crime can result to:
financial loss
property damage
physical injury
death
Sometimes more devastating effects are the psychological wounds after the crime, wounds that
may never heal.
In an attempt to prevent victimization, individuals may move, restrict their daily activities, or
purchase expensive security measures. Billions of money and man power are being extended by
governments to apprehend and punish offenders, yet we have only started recently to focus our
attention on the victims of the crime.
Criminal victims could be key actors in criminal justice process, but more often they are kept at
the discussion. The victim of crime often becomes the FORGOTTEN PERSON of the criminal
justice system while the criminal is the celebrity. Victims are only valued for their capacity to report
crimes and to appear in court as witnesses.
GENERAL CLASSES OF VICTIMS
Based on the classification of Hans Von Hentig, a European
lawyer
1. The Young - the weak by virtue and immaturity
2. The Female – often less physically powerful and easily
dominated by males.
3. The Old – the incapable of Physical defense and the
common object of confidence scheme.
4. The Mentally Defective – those that are unable to think
clearly.
5. The Immigrant – those that are unsure of the rules of
conduct in the surrounding society.
6. The Minorities – racial prejudice may lead to victimization
or unequal treatment by the agency of justice.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES OF VICTIMS
1. The Depressed – submissive person by virtue of emotional condition
2. The Acquisitive or Greedy – person who wants more than what is sufficient. They usually
are the natural victim of crime.
3. The Wanton or Overly Sensual - person ruled by passion and thoughtlessly seeking
pleasure.
4. The Lonesome – person who eventually becomes a victim by virtue of wanting
companionship or affection
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COR JESU COLLEGE, INC.
Sacred Heart Ave., Digos City
COLLEGE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS
5. The Heartbroken – one who is emotionally disturbed by virtue of heartaches and pains.
6. The Tormented – a victim who asked for it, often from his own family or friend.
OTHER TYPES OF VICTIMS
Benjamin Mendelsohn, Father of Victimology, a European defense attorney created his own
classification of victim types. This includes the following six categories:
1. Completely Innocent Victim - typically children or those who are attacked while
unconscious;
2. Victim with Minor Guilt (often victimized because of ignorance);
3. Voluntary Victim - whose guilt is equal to that of the offender suicide pact, for example;
4. Victim More Guilty Than the Offender - one who provokes or induces another to commit
crime;
5. Victim Who Alone Is Guilty - attacker who is killed due to self-defense;
6. The Imaginary Victim - who has suffered nothing at all but who accuses another falsely.
Benjamin Mendelsohn is generally credited as the initiator of the
word VICTIMOLOGY as well as the concept of PENAL COUPLE.
Penal couple is a term that describes the relationship between the
victim and the criminal. He also coined the term VICTIMAL to
describe the victim counterpart of the criminal, and the word
VICTIMITY, which signified the opposite of criminality.
Another class of victim is the ‘LOSER’ or one who is initially the
attacker but later, the situation is reversed. An example could be the
case of a mugger or a bully who ends up injured or a swindler
becomes swindled.
DYNAMICS OF VICTIMIZATION
There are a number of procedural models which can be applied to the study of the victimization
process for the purpose of understanding the experience of victims.
1. “Victims of Crime Model” (by Bard and Sangrey). According to this model, there are
three stages involved in any victimization:
a. Stage of Impact & Disorganization – stage during and immediately following the
Criminal event.
b. Stage of Recoil – stage during which the victim formulates psychological defenses
and deals with conflicting emotions of guilt, anger, acceptance, and desire of
revenge (said to last three to eight months),
c. Reorganization Stage – stage during which the victim puts his or her own life back to
normal daily living.
* Some victims however may not successfully adopt the victimization experience and a
maladaptive reorganization stage may last for many years.
2. “Disaster Victim’s Model” – this model was developed to explain the coping behavior of
victims of natural disaster. According to this model, there are four stages of victimization:
a. Pre-Impact – stage describe the victim’s condition prior to being victimized.
b. Impact – the stage at which victimization occur.
c. Post- Impact – stage which entails the degree and duration of personal and social
disorganization following victimization.
d. Behavioral Outcome – stage that describes the victim’s adjustment to the
victimization experience.
Drawing out the best in you!” Page 5
COR JESU COLLEGE, INC.
Sacred Heart Ave., Digos City
COLLEGE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Response to Victimization
The contemporary study of the characteristics of crime victims has tended to focus on identifying
risk factors in order to better understand the phenomena, without attributing blame to the victims.
Information about the risk for victimization has been used to develop crime prevention and
enforcement strategies.
Research indicates that there is a host of individual, situational, and community-level factors that
increase risk of criminal victimization. Let’s look at the individual factors. Individuals can be
described in terms of their socio-demographic characteristics. These characteristics are
enumerated in the acronym S.A.U.C.E.R.
Socio-demographic Characteristics
The risk of becoming victim varies as a function of S.A.U.C.E.R.:
Sex - male female
Age - young, middle aged, or elderly
Urban - urban or rural
Class - socioeconomic class
Ethnicity - racial characteristics
Religion - religious preference
Sex- With the exception of sexual assault and domestic violence, men have higher risk of
assault than women. Lifetime risk of homicide is three to four times higher for men than
women.
Age- Adolescents have substantially higher rates of assault than young adults or older. Survey
indicates that 12-to-19-year-old are two to three times as likely as those over 20 to become
victims of personal crime each year. 62% of all forcible rape cases occurred when the victim
was under 18 years of age (Kilpatrick et al., 1992).
Urban- Crime and victimization is mostly an urban problem. Urban areas have a dangerous
amount of transience (strangers moving in and out of town), heterogeneity (mix of different
people and places), and disorganization (dilapidation of housing and buildings).
Class- Violence disproportionately affects those from lower socioeconomic classes. Family
income is related to rates of violence and victimization, with lower income families at a higher
risk than those from higher income brackets.
Ethnicity- Racial and ethnic minorities have higher rates of assault than other people. In
America, rates of violent assault are approximately twice as high for African- and Hispanic-
Americans compared to white Americans. African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans are
significantly more likely than White Americans to have ever been violent victims of crime.
Religion- Certain religious groups tend to be regularly prosecuted –and over represented in
hate crime statistics.
VICTIMS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Victims of crime deserve rights and services in the criminal justice system that begin at the point
of reporting crime to the police, and continue through the entire criminal justice system process.
The criminal justice system is charged with processing cases from the point of victimization,
arrest, prosecution and sanctions. At each point along this continuum, criminal justice agencies
and professionals have opportunities and obligations to provide victims with assistance, services
and accommodations to ease their difficulties in what is already a very trying, tragic time. The
criminal justice system can minimize and avoid inflicting “secondary victimization” that has often
characterized much of the plight of victims of crime.
Drawing out the best in you!” Page 6
COR JESU COLLEGE, INC.
Sacred Heart Ave., Digos City
COLLEGE OF SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Secondary victimization occurs when the victim suffers further harm not as a direct result of the
criminal act but due to how institutions and other individuals deal with the victim. Secondary
victimization may be caused, for instance, by repeated exposure of the victim to the perpetrator,
repeated interrogation about the same facts, the use of inappropriate language, or insensitive
comments made by all those who come into contact with victims.
-END OF MODULE 4-
Drawing out the best in you!” Page 7
