16 Victims of Crime Flashcards
Define victims
People who have “suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws”
What are the high rates of victimisation in the demographics of crime victims?
Urban areas (18% compared to 12%)
Property offences: young professionals
Personal victimisation: Age (16-24); single; low household income; unemployed; full-time student’ active evening life; high alcohol consumption
About 20% of the population is a victim of crime at some point in their life
Describe what victims fear in crime?
Groups at highest risk of becoming crime victims are not scarily those who experience the greatest fear of crime
- Elderly and women report the highest fear
- Young males report the least fear
What is the most feared public activity?
Catching the train
How do people manage their fear of crime?
Strategies that increase a sense of control:
- Increase security measures at home
- In public try to avoid “unpredictable strangers”
- Go out in groups
- Monitor environment/stay alert
What are factors that influence reporting crime?
- Nature of offence (*Perception that reporting will benefit victim, seriousness)
- Bystanders/support networks who encourage reporting
- Characteristics of victim are less important
Describe the historical view of victims in early middle ages?
Victims or their survivors played a central role in trial proceedings and sentencing
- This ‘Golden Age’ of the victim ended with monarchs who declared that vengeance was theirs alone
- Crimes are often thought of as hostile acts against the state, rather than events that hurt a specific person
Describe the historical view of victims in 1960s-1970s
1960s: criticisms that the government offered the victims little to no support, even though ostensibly the criminal justice system was established to serve them
1970s: the concept of “Blaming the Victim” recognised and popularized
Why do we blame the victim?
- The fundamental attribution error
- Just-world hypothesis
- Shapes our response to victim
What is the fundamental attribution error in blaming the victim?
The tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behaviours, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
- If we blame the personal qualities of the victim we can feel secure that the same situation won’t happen to us
What is the Just-world hypothesis in blaming the victim?
The need to believe the world is fair and that people get what they deserve
- Bad people are punished
- Good people are rewarded
What is shaping our response to the victim in blaming the victim?
Blaming the victim shapes our responses to victims
- The norms of our society demand that we help others that deserve our help. But if people are responsible for their own suffering, we do not feel obligated to help
DIscuss secondary victimisation
- Uncertainty as to their role in the criminal justice process
- A general lack of knowledge about the criminal justice system, courtroom procedures, and legal issues
- Trial delays that result in frequent travel, missed work and wasted time
- Fear of the defendant or of retaliation from defendant’s associates
- The trauma of testifying and cross-examination
- Media - especially in homicide cases
What are some concerns of victims?
The emergence of the interdisciplinary field of victimology, which concentrates on the process and consequences of victimisation experiences and how victims recover
How have legislators (and others) responded to the concerns of crime victims?
- Compensation of the crime victims
- Participation by victims in criminal proceedings
- Legislative changes protecting victim’s rights
- Reconciling victims and offenders
What does it mean by compensation of the crime victims?
Restitution: judge orders the defendant to compensate the victim for losses
Pros:
• Victim reimbursed
• Helps offenders appreciate how their crimes have hurt others
Cons:
• Often there is no defendant because crime isn’t solved or the defendant is acquitted
• Also, the defendant is often financially unable to reimburse the victim
What does it mean by participation by victims in criminal proceedings?
Many states in AUS provide that victims have a right to be notified of and attend court proceedings and a right to make their views known, either to the prosecutor or directly to the judge
- Victims are concerned that important decisions are made without their input and knowledge
- Victim impact evidence: evidence offered at sentencing to show the impact on the victim of the crime for which the defendant has been convicted
What does it mean by legislative changes protecting victim’s rights?
Laws have been made that protect victims’ rights, such as:
• To be notified of proceedings
• Not to be excluded from the trial and other proceedings
• To be heard at crucial stages such as the release of an offender, plea bargaining, and sentencing
• To be notified of the offender’s release from custody
• To be freed from unreasonable delay in the proceedings
• To receive restitution from the convicted offender
70-90% of voters have supported such amendments
What does it mean by reconciling victims and offenders?
E.g. restorative justice
- Resolution conferences, although controversial, can cause the offender to realise the victim’s pain and the victim to understand why the offender committed the crimes
Provides benefits in the areas of:
• Accountability
• Competency development
• Community safety
NSW: victim-offender conferencing
What is accountability in reconciling victims and offenders?
the victim can give their story and the perpetrator has to face the person they harmed, and take responsibility for what they did
What is competency development in reconciling victims and offenders?
Perpetrators learn new skills in these meetings about conflict resolution and empathy, and conversation skills
What is community safety in reconciling victims and offenders?
increases safety and feelings of safety. The victim can ask why they were the victim and to know what to avoid, which is good because they may feel lost not knowing why
What is the NSW victim-offender conferencing?
- Only takes place if the offender accepts responsibility for the offence and both the victim and the offender have agreed to take part
- All the participants discuss the crime and the impact that this has had on their lives. They come to an agreement about what could be done to make it better
Discuss the psychological effects of victimisation
Stockholm syndrome: a paradoxical phenomenon where hostages exhibit empathy and positive regard for their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them
Acute Stress Disorder (ASD): before 1 month or post crime PTSD
- Usually, the trauma must be of sufficient severity to have threatened the victim, or someone close to the victim, with mortal danger or serious bodily harm
- Symptoms: intrusive thoughts, avoidance symptoms and hyper-arousal
