Topic 4- The victims of crime

Question 1

UN definition of victims

Answer 1

Those who have suffered harm through acts or omissions that violate the laws of the state

Question 2

Nils Christies 1986

Answer 2

He sees ‘victim as socially constructed’
The stereotype of the ‘ideal’ victim

Question 3

Victimology

Answer 3

Study of victims

Question 4

Positivist victimology

Answer 4

Miers 1989
-Aims to do the factors that produce patterns in victimisation
-Interpersonal crimes of violence
-Id victims who have contributed to their own victimisation

Question 5

Radical victimology

Answer 5

-Victimisation is a form of structural powerlessness
-Structural factors such as patriarchy which place groups such as women and the poor at greater risk
-The states power to apply or deny the label of the victim
-Victim is a social construct

Question 6

Studies of positivist victimology

Answer 6

Hans Von Hentig-Victim proneness
-Victims in some way invite victimisation identified 13 characteristics of victims

Wolfgang- 1958
-588 homicides in Philadelphia, 26% involved victim precipitation

Question 7

Studies of radical victimology

Answer 7

Toombs and Whyte 2007
-Safety crimes where employers violations of laws lead to death or injury are often explained away as the fault of the ‘accident prone’

Question 8

Evaluation of positivist victimology

Answer 8

Strengths
-Shows the importance of victim offender relationship

Limits
-Ignores wider structural factors influencing victimisation
-Easily lead to victim blaming
-Ignores situations where the victim is unaware of their victimisation

Question 9

Evaluation of radical victimology

Answer 9

Strengths
-Disregards the role of victims in bringing victimisation on themselves
-It draws attention to how ‘victim status’ is constructed

Limits
-It ignores the issues of victim precipitation proneness that positive victimology identifies

Question 10

Pattens of victimisation

Answer 10

-Class
-Age
-Ethnicity
-Gender
-Repeat victimisation