Dussich - Victimology Reading - #2

Question 0

Define crime victim

Answer 0

Someone who has been physically, financially or emotionally injured and/or had their property taken or damaged by someone committing a crime.

Question 1

Define victim

Answer 1

• Roots in the early religious notions of suffering, sacrifice and death. - In ancient civilizations the law mandated that the victim should be recognized as a person who deserved to be made whole again by the offender.

Question 2

Define victimogenesis

Answer 2

• Origin or cause of a victimization

- Variables which caused a victimization to occur.

Question 3

Define victim precipitation

Answer 3

Victimization where the victim causes, in part or totally, their own victimization.

Question 4

Define vulnerability

Answer 4

Physical, psychological, social, material or financial condition whereby a person or an object has a weakness which could render them a victim if another person or persons would recognize these weaknesses and take advantage of them.

Question 5

Define general victim

Answer 5

Someone who has been physically, financially or emotionally injured and/or had their property taken or damaged by someone, an event, an organization or a natural phenomenon.

Question 6

Define victimization

Answer 6

An event where persons, communities and institutions are damaged or injured in a significant way. Those persons who are impacted by persons or events suffer a violation of rights or significant disruption of their well being.

Question 7

Define victimology

Answer 7

• A discipline which studies data that describes phenomena and causal relationships related to victimizations
• Includes events leading to the victimization, the victim’s experience, its aftermath and the actions taken by society in response to these victimizations
• Includes study of the precursors, vulnerabilities, events, impacts, recoveries, and responses by people, organizations and cultures related to victimizations.

Question 8

Define abuse of power

Answer 8

Violation of a national or international standard in the use of organized powerful forces such that persons are injured physically, mentally, emotionally, economically, or in their rights, as a direct and intentional result of the misapplication of these forces.

Question 9

Define victim assistance, support, or services

Answer 9

• Activities which are applied in response to victimizations with the intention of relieving suffering and facilitating recovery
• Includes offering information, assessments, individual interventions, case advocacy, system advocacy, public policy and programme development.

Question 10

Define victim recovery

Answer 10

• Resumption of the same or better level of functionality as was enjoyed prior to victimization.
• Persons who have been victimized vary in their level of mental health and well- being prior to their victimization.
• Consequently, victimization affects each person in a different way and causes differing degrees of injury or trauma.
• In their recovery it is necessary for victims to first try to regain their previous level of functioning plus learn from their misfortune and hopefully exceed their previous level of functionality.
• To be recovered suggests that a person has at least regained their prior level of well-being and at best, has exceeded it.
• This state may be measured by identifying their previous mental condition and determining if they have at least regained that prior status using the criteria of: trust in others, autonomy of self, individual initiative, competency in daily activities, self-identity, interpersonal intimacy, control over personal situations, successful relationships, safety in daily activities, acknowledgment of memory, trauma symptoms have become manageable, self esteem is restored, resourcefulness is achieved, and there is an improved ability to ward off potential threats.

Question 11

Define child abuse

Answer 11

The intentional application of sexual, physical, emotional or psychological injury to a child to include neglect at the hands of her or his parents or care-provider within the confines of their family or place of care.

Question 12

Define victim offender mediation (VOM)

Answer 12

• Process for face-to-face meetings in the presence of a trained mediator between a victim of a crime and his/her offender who committed that crime.
• This is also called victim-offender dialogue, victim-offender conferencing, victim-offender reconciliation, or restorative justice.
• Often the victim and the offender are joined by their respective families and community members or other persons related to the crime event.
• In these meetings, the offender and the victim talk to each other about the victimization, the effects it had on their lives, and their feelings about it.
• The aim is to create a mutually agreeable plan to repair any damage or injury that occurred as a result of the crime in the hopes of permanently eliminating the conflict that caused the crime in the first place.

Question 13

Define restorative justice

Answer 13

• Systematic formal legal response to crime victimization that emphasizes healing the injuries that resulted from the crime and affected the victims, offenders and communities

Question 14

Define victim trauma

Answer 14

• Emotional and physical experiences that produce pain and injuries. - Emotional injury is a normal response to an extremely abnormal event.
• Results from the pairing of a painful or frightening emotional experience with a specific memory which emerge and have a long- lasting effect on the life of a person.
• The more direct the exposure to the traumatic event, the higher the risk for emotional harm and prolonged effects.

Question 15

Define crisis intervention

Answer 15

The provision of emergency psychological care to traumatized victims so as to help them return to an adaptive level of functioning and to prevent or mitigate the negative impact of psychological and emotional trauma.

Question 16

Define compensation

Answer 16

Formal administrative procedure provided by law which provides only money to victims for “out of pocket” real expenses directly resulting from the victimization to be paid by the state after the victim is found to qualify according to specific criteria determined by the respective state or federal law.

Question 17

Define restitution

Answer 17

Formal judicial procedure used by a judge after guilt is determined as part of a sentence which can provide money and/or services to the victim for damages or suffering which resulted from the victimization to be paid or performed by the offender.

Question 18

Define victim survey

Answer 18

Periodic data collection and analysis process conducted usually by a government entity within the general population to study information about crime victims regardless whether they reported their victimization to the police or not. It typically uses a face-to-face or telephone interview (or sent questionnaire) and covers demographics, attitudes about crime and details about the victimizations experienced over the previous six months.

Question 19

Define victim rights

Answer 19

Privileges and procedures required by written law which guarantee victims specific considerations and treatment by the criminal justice system, the government and the community at large.