Impact Of Crime On Victims, Offenders And Their Families

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

• Crime harms many people in the UK, in Scotland alone the Scottish Government reported in 2020-21 246,511 crimes took place.
• There are many different types of crime but it affects people in many similar Social, Physical and Economic ways.
• Some people would argue that crime only harms the victim however this essay will look at the victim, offender and the family of a victim and will argue overall that crime doesn’t only harm the victim.

Question 2

Victim - Social (PTSD)

Answer 2

• Victims are harmed by crime through social impacts such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
• This is a specific anxiety disorder which is caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events such as crime.
• Evidence of this is in 2018 after the Manchester concert terrorist attack, Arianna Grande suffers from PTSD and said she doesn’t know how she could ever speak about it without crying.

Question 3

Victim - Social (PTSD) analysis

Answer 3

• Arguably, this shows that PTSD can leave the victim constantly reliving a traumatic event that they can never necessarily get over and can lead to feelings of isolation and survivors guilt suggesting that social effects on victims of crime can be severe.

Question 4

Victim - economic (fraud)

Answer 4

• Victims can be harmed due to economic impacts of crime such as fraud.
• This means the impact of fraud on victims can be substantial, varying from a few thousand pounds to well over a million.
• Evidence of this is as of 2022, a total of 14 cases with a value exceeding £14 million were brought before judges in the past 12 months.

Question 5

Victim - economic (fraud) analysis

Answer 5

• Arguably, this shows crime can harm the victim as the numbers in the previous evidence suggest that fraud is causing many victims to suffer huge financial losses which could make many victims bankrupt or in a large amount of debt causing severe economic impact that can last years.

Question 6

Victim - physical (violent crime)

Answer 6

• Victims of crime often experience physical violence, especially if it’s a physical violent crime.
• This can be seen by the number of victims left with severe physical conditions such as cuts and scarring or not being able to live the life they did before.
• An example of this can be seen as there were 1891 emergency hospital admissions as a result of assault in 2020-2021 of which 416 were due to an assault with a sharp object according to gov.Scot.

Question 7

Victim - physical (violent crime) analysis

Answer 7

• Arguably this shows that victims suffer physically and find it more difficult to put the crime behind them which could have a negative impact on their mental health more so on victims in which the crime caused permanent life changes.

Question 8

Victim - evaluation

Answer 8

• In evaluation crime does affect the victim but yet only to a certain extent. - While social impact on the victim can be long lasting such as newly found mental health issues or developing on issues that were already existing.
• Nevertheless, the physical impact can be made more pronounced by the victims’s appearance changing and being left with permanent mark on their body of the violence inflicted upon them, serving as a constant reminder of their trauma.
• Yet, the economic remain significant in that people can be left with severe money issues due to fraud which they often can never bounce back from.

Question 9

Perpetrator - social (mental health)

Answer 9

• Perpetrators can be socially harmed by crime as it can affect their mental health.
• This means a perpetrator may have a pre-existing mental health issue before committing their offence, the environment of prison may exacerbate this problem.
• Evidence of this is the Scottish government found in 2022 that 15% of the prison population likely have a long-term mental health condition and 17% a history of self-harm.

Question 10

Perpetrator - social (mental health) analysis

Answer 10

• Arguably, this shows the harm crime can have on a perpetrator as it can affect the way they view themselves and the likelihood of whether or not they would be able to cope with a life outside the criminal justice system.

Question 11

Perpetrator - (economic) unemployed

Answer 11

• A perpetrator could also be impacted economically through unemployment or lack of job opportunities.
• This means that perpetrators could be fired if an employee finds out about their offences or even just not hired in the first place, particularly if they went to prison.
• Evidence shows that The Prisoner Learning Alliance reported in 2021 that every year, around 70,000 people leave prison and at least 58,000 of them are not in employment one year after release.

Question 12

Perpetrator - (economic) unemployed analysis

Answer 12

• Arguably, this shows that despite efforts within prisons to rehabilitate prisoners, there are still societal issues and a lack of willingness from many businesses to hire ex-offenders, which may cause offenders to still be unemployed a year after release.

Question 13

Perpetrator- physical (locked away)

Answer 13

• Crime not only impacts the victim physically but also the perpetrator as they are locked away in prison.
• This means when they are locked up for a period of time, dependent upon the severity of the crime they have committed, and have their freedom taken away from them.
• Evidence of this is as of January 1st, 2023, there were 7,303 prisoners in prisons across Scotland according to gov.scot.

Question 14

Perpetrator- physical (locked away) analysis

Answer 14

• Arguably this shows that there are many perpetrators who are imprisoned as a result of their crimes and therefore they have had their freedoms took away from the, which shows the physical impact crime has on perpetrators.

Question 15

Perpetrator- evaluation

Answer 15

• In evaluation, crime does not only harm the victim, but it also harms the perpetrator.
• While social impacts can harm the perpetrators as due to mental health reasons, they may experience self-harm and long-term mental health issues.
• Nevertheless, the physical impact on perpetrators can be even more pronounced as many perpetrators are locked away in prison for their crimes and their citizen freedoms are taken away from them.
• Yet the economic impact on the perpetrator remains significant in that the likelihood of being employed after going to prison can be very slim as not many employers will hire ex-convicts.
• Therefore, not only victims are harmed by crime.

Question 16

Family of Victim - physical (loss of loved one)

Answer 16

-Crime also impacts the family of the victim physically.
-This is because in more serious cases like murder for example the family suffer the physical loss of a person, they love who has been taken away from them and they may never recover emotionally from such a traumatic event.
- Evidence of this is the family of Julie Reilly who was murdered in Govan in 2018 were devastated to learn that their mother and sister had been killed and dismembered by Andrew Wallace, not only did they lose a loved one, but they had to wait a year before they could have a proper burial for her.

Question 17

Family of Victim - physical (loss of loved one) analysis

Answer 17

• Arguably this shows the severity of the physical impact on the family since Julie’s daughter went into her adult life without a mum and her daughter without a grandmother.

Question 18

Family of Victim - social (emotional trauma)

Answer 18

• Crime can harm the family of the victim socially due to emotional trauma.
• This is because emotional trauma can impact families greatly, especially when their family member has been a victim of a violent crime, a main way the family will experience emotional trauma is from having to sit through court proceedings which detail what happened to their family member.
• An example of this would be the family of 6-year-old Alesha MacPhail having to hear about the 117 injuries that killer Aaron Campbell inflicted upon her.

Question 19

Family of Victim - social (emotional trauma) analysis

Answer 19

• Arguably this shows that this could harm the family as they are having to hear harrowing evidence of what happened to their loved one, which can be extremely emotionally distressing and have a long-term impact on their mental health.

Question 20

Family of Victim - economic (victim unable to work + family need to provide)

Answer 20

• Furthermore, crime impacts the family of a victim economically.
• This is because in more extreme cases, victims of crime may be unable to work for a period of time due to physical injury or their mental health suffering, therefore relying on their family to support them financially.
• An example of this is the Office for National Statistics found in 2020 that 21% of victims said that they took time off work because of the assault, and 6% reported losing their job or giving up work.

Question 21

Family of Victim - economic (victim unable to work + family need to provide) analysis

Answer 21

• Arguably this shows, families will want to do whatever they can to support the victim however many families do not have large amounts of spare income available to provide financial support indefinitely to the victim who can’t currently work due to the crime.

Question 22

Conclusion

Answer 22

• In conclusion the victim isn’t the only one harmed by crime.
• This is shown as the victim can be harmed physically by crime as they may have been left with a severe injury after a physical assault in 2021, 1891 emergency hospital admissions happened due to assault.
• Furthermore, victims are harmed by economical crime as victims of fraud can lose significant amounts of money that can leave them bankrupt or in severe debt and in 2022, a total of 14 cases of fraud with a value exceeding £14 million were brought before a judge.
• Also, victims can be harmed socially by crime as they can develop trauma responses such as PTSD after experiencing a distressing event an example of this is Ariana Grande suffers from PTSD after experiencing a terrorist attack.
• Nonetheless, victims are not the only ones harmed by crime as perpetrators of crime can also be harmed socially by crime due to their own mental health as it can affect the way they view themselves and the likelihood of whether or not they can cope outside of prison.
• Furthermore, perpetrators also are harmed economically by crime as they may struggle to find employment after leaving prison as in 2021, at least 58,000 ex-convicts did not find employment a year after release.
• Perpetrators can also be physically harmed by crime due to being locked away in prison and therefore having their freedom rights taken away from them and some may not cope well being locked away.
• Victims are not the only people harmed by crime as the family of the victim can also be harmed physically by crime as in severe cases like murder, they would lose a family member and have to deal with the severe emotional impact this would have, an example of this is the Julie Reilly case.
• Furthermore, the family of the victim can also be harmed economically by crime as if the victim in their family can no longer work as a result of painful trauma they would want to step in to financially support them however many families do not have the kind of income to support them indefinitely.
• Finally, the victim of the family can also be affected due to emotional trauma as they would have to sit through long court proceedings that document the harrowing details of what their loved one went through, and this would leave them with mental health problems.
• Therefore, overall, it can be argued that the victims are not the only ones harmed by crime and it also can harm the perpetrator and family of the victim.