Chapter 12: Victim and Victimology

Learning Objectives

• Define victimology and its scope
• Explain theories of victimization
• Identify types and impacts of victimization
• Describe support systems and policies

Key Terms

• Victimology
• Victimization
• Lifestyle-Exposure Theory
• Routine Activities Theory
• Guardianship
• Secondary Victimization
• Victim Impact
• Trauma
• Victim Compensation
• Restorative Justice
• Victim Advocacy

Summary

This chapter shifts focus to victims and their experiences. It examines theories, types, and impacts of victimization, including psychological and economic effects. The chapter also explores victim support systems and prevention strategies.

Victimology, as a branch of criminology, focuses on the study of victims and the patterns, consequences, and responses to victimization. Unlike criminology, which primarily centers on the behaviors and psychology of criminals, victimology shifts the focus towards the victims, examining their roles, experiences, and responses in the context of crimes and other harmful events. This field emerged as an important discipline in the mid-20th century, recognizing that understanding the victim’s perspective is crucial to comprehensively understanding crime and developing effective criminal justice policies.

Victimology does not just limit itself to studying the aftermath of crime from a victim’s perspective; it also delves into the interactions between victims and offenders, the criminal justice system’s treatment of victims, and societal attitudes towards victims. It examines how factors like gender, age, social status, and psychological traits influence one’s likelihood of becoming a victim and the subsequent experience of victimization. This perspective marks a significant shift from earlier criminological theories which often overlooked or marginalized the victim’s role in the crime and justice processes.

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