Crime And Deviance 10 - Victims Of Crime

Question 1

Different types of victims?

Answer 1

Indirect - friends and relatives, witnesses, ‘message crimes’
Secondary victimisation - victims suffer more because of CJS e.g. rape victims, etc.
Fear of crime - media, women fear assault but men more likely to be victims
Psychological Impact - disrupted sleep, helplessness, difficulties in social functioning, safety anxiety

Question 2

Patterns of victimisation?

Answer 2

Probability 20-25%, varies by crime, unevenly distributed between social groups, marginalised groups more likely to be victims
Class: crime rates highest in areas of high unemployment and deprivation (poorer houses more likely to be burgled than higher income households.)
Age: infants most likely to be murdered, teens more at risk of assault, theft, abuse, etc. elderly more likely to be abused (although not as visible)
Ethnicity: racially motivated crimes, BAME less likely to tell police, 4 times higher homicide rate for black people than white
Gender: males more at risk of violent attacks from a stranger, 70% of homicide victims are men, women more likely victims of domestic abuse, etc.
Repeat victimisation: 60% never victims of crime but 4% are victims of 44% in that period
CSEW (crime survey England and wales) reduced number of victims, except fraud and cyber crime

Question 3

Positivist victimology e.g. Miers (1989)?

Answer 3

Identifies factors that make people victims
Focuses on violent interpersonal crime
Identify victims that have contributed o their own victimisation
Examples -> Hentig (1948) most victims of crime belong to ‘vulnerable’ groups (e.g. female, elderly, ‘mentally subnormal’). Suggests lack of status invites victimisation
Wolfgang (1958) 588 homoicides, 26% involved victim precipitation (using violence first, etc.)

Question 4

Support for positivist victimology?

Answer 4

Bookman (2005) shows importance of the victim/offender relationship, and in many homoicides its chance which person becomes victim

Question 5

Criticism of positivism victimology?

Answer 5

Can result in blaming the victim
Ignores structural factors (e.g. poverty, patriarchy, etc.)
Marxists: Victims identified by CSEW are victims state choose to see, state ignores others such as being shot by police and environmental crime
Tombs and Whyte (2007) victims of corporate, white collar and green crimes are unlikely to appear in positivists studies as their questions don’t cover these types of offences
Mawby and Walklate (1994) analysis doesn’t extend to secondary victimisation and lack of intervention of CJS e.g. people who don’t come forward or did and nothing happened

Question 6

Christie (1986) on defining and labelling victims?

Answer 6

‘Victim’ is a social construction (weak and blameless individuals)

Question 7

Evidence of Christie (1986)’s theory on victim defining?

Answer 7

Police officers attitudes to ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ in 1970
Prosecutor Sir Michael Havers (attorney general) “the saddest part [of the case] is that some were not [prostitutes]. The last six were on totally respectable women”
Police categorised victims as ‘innocent’ and ‘non-innocent’ based on class an lifestyle
A black woman that survived an attack was racially abused, wrongly labelled a prostitute and her description of the killer was dismissed despite being accurate

Question 8

What is critical victimology?

Answer 8

Viewpoint taken by Marxists and Feminists with focus on structural powers (poverty and patriarchy)
Walklate (2000) draws attention to states power to apply or deny victim label, with police agents in this process

Question 9

Evidence of Walklate (2000) theory?

Answer 9

Christie’s (1986) theory of victims as a social constructions
2016 Hillsborough football disaster 1989 officially recognised officially recognised as unlawful killings
Definitions of crimes against women are too narrow (coercive control only considered domestic abuse in 2013)

Question 10

Evidence of Walklate (2000) theory?

Answer 10

Christie’s (1986) theory of victims as a social constructions
2016 Hillsborough football disaster 1989 officially recognised officially recognised as unlawful killings

Question 11

What is Marxist victimology?

Answer 11

Poorer section of society are often victims of crime committed by powerful e.g. price fixing, green crimes, negligent practices
Victims aren’t aware that they are so

Question 12

Marxist victimology evidence?

Answer 12

Tombs and Whyte (2007) ‘safety crimes’ employers’ violations that result in injury and death of workers are present are present as accident prone workers
Right Realist SCP might not be viable for those with less money, which in itself causes inequality

Question 13

Left realist victimology?

Answer 13

1986 surveyed victims of inner city crime and discovered poor and women stood more chance of being repeat victims and women’s fears were well justified
Lea and Young critical of CSEW because it misses groups e.g. homeless, people in group homes, etc.
Poor suffer more than wealthy as they don’t have the resources to protect themselves (insurance, lack confidence to report to police)

Question 14

Support for Marxist/Left realist approach?

Answer 14

Draws attention to role of power (police, state, media, etc.) in social construction of ‘victim’
Avoids victim blaming

Question 15

Criticisms of Marxist/Left Realist theories?

Answer 15

Disregards the role victims play in choices they make e.g. not securing their house or own offending
New right - failure to ‘target harden’
However this belief could go into victim blaming