victimology Flashcards
key areas
- Social Constructionism of ‘Victim’
- Patterns of Victimisation
- Impact of Victimisation
- Sociological theories of Victimisation
Social constructionism of victim
Christie - the concept of ‘victim’ is actually socially constructed by the media and criminal justice system as someone who is ‘weak, innocent and blameless ‘ - the target of a strangers attack
who counts as a victim depends on the the CJS label attached to the word - there are many unrecorded/reported victims of crime (dark figure) e.g domestic violence, white collar etc
some reject the fact they are victims (see the attack as their fault or refuse to be seen as weak e.g victims of internet scams)
some victims are denied victim status because others regard them as responsible for their own victimisation - e.g trans men suffering transphobic attacks are seen to be ‘bringing it on’ themselves through dress -
Tombs and Whyte - provide an example where a victim is denied their status as a victim by understanding accident victims of copr crime arising from employer neglect of health and safety regulations are themselves blamed for being negligent
- National victim survey - crime survey of England and Wales
- local Victim survey - Islington crime survey used by left realists
Patterns of victimisation
2014-15 CSEW shows the 20% most deprived areas had the highest rates of being a victim of perusal and household crime
Inverse Victimisation Law - this who live in the most deprived arras with the fewest and least valuable personal possessions are most likely to be victims of all forms of crime (works the opposite way for the rich)
- this argues against the Neo-marx Robin Hood theory - the poor are not stealing from the rich, they steal from the poor
highest rates of victimisation occur among the ‘hard-pressed’ e.g unemployed, sick etc / areas of high physical disorder e.g vandalism / areas of high deprivation
Age-crime / victimisation curve- whilst the Age-Crime Curve explains how younger people have greater opps to commit crime - this decreases as they get older.
2012-13 CSEW - likelihood of being a victim of crime decreases with age - highest age of victimisation is 16-24 yrs old (x9 more likely to be a victim compared to over 75)
youth groups most likely to be victims - children age 1, 10-15 (6% experienced violent crime in 2013, teens and elderly
All ethnic min groups have higher fear of crime than whites particularly ethnic mins who are at risk of homicide
2007-2010 - ethnic mins x2 greater risk than white of homicide + black groups x4 greater risk than white for homicide
2014-2015 - Police Recorded Crime - 54,000 racist incidents in England and Wales recorded + CSEW found ,out racist incidents go unreported, the estimated figure of of racist crime was 89,000
Mixed ethnic - 27.9%
Black - 18%
White - 15.7%
Intersection - differences between ethnic groups may not just be due to ethnicity, but also factors such as age, social class, gender, unemployment etc
CSEW 2013/ 14
men have higher burglary and violent crime than men
young men (age 16-24 x2 risk of young women of the most violent crime
women much higher risk of sexual assault
repeat victimisation
if you have been a victim it is likely you will be again
CSEW - within any given year -4 % of the population are victims of 44% of all crimes
impact of victimisation
Impact 1 - Hoyle - being a victim can have serious physical and emotional impacts on the victim such as disrupted speech or a feeling of helplessness
Impact 2 - crime can create ‘indirect victims’ such as friends, relatives and witnesses to the crime e- Pynoos et al found child witnesses of a sniper attack continued to have grief-related dress
Impact 3 - crimes against min groups can create waves of ‘harm’ that radiate out to affect others - crimes such as hate crimes are intended to affect an entire community
Impact 4 - Secondary (double) victimisation - whilst primary victimisation is the direct victim of a crime - secondary is the further victimisation from the CJS - Walkate argues the CJS contribute to secondary victimisation in rape trials where it is often the female victims rather than the male suspects who seem to be on trial - women are often treated without empathy (questioning) - double violation
Impact 5 - Fear of crime - concern with wether the fear of being a victim of crime is exaggerated or irrational a s statistically men a re much more likely to be victims - Felson’s dramatic fallacy
eval - feminists have attacked the emphasis of ‘fear of crime’ as it focuses on women’s passivity and their psychological state when we should be focusing on their safety
- Jones - the Public’s perception of how likely they are to be victims is realistic e.f Young - crime is focused geographically in certain locations and socially in certain groups - fear is rational and based on experience e.f the the Islington crime survey found 46% had been victim s of street robbery
two difficulties in measuring the fear of crime
- Goodey it is difficult to operationalise the ‘fear of crime’ in an objective, consistent way
- Farrell and Gadd: it is difficult to establish how significant fear of crime is - could be sporadic or sustained, muted or high
Impact of victimisation eval
Gorgen - Older women’s fear is realistic because there is a high rate of abuse of the elderly in nursing homes / link to left realism –> fear of crime is valid (eval against felson’s dramatic fallacy)
theories of victimisation - positivist victimology
Tierney - suggests the positivist approach to victimology involves identifying something in the characteristics or circumstances of victims which males them different from non-victims (this comes in two forms 1. Victim proneness and 2. victim precipitation (more on page 114)
Miers’ 3 areas of focus of positivist victimology
- Aims to identify patterns of victimisation , especially those who are more prone to victimisation than others
- Focus on street and interpersonal violence
- Aims to identify victims who have ‘contributed’ to their own victimisation - developing typologies of victims and how they are similar to/different from criminals e.g ‘provoking victims’
Hans Von Hentig - identified 13 characteristics of a victim, such as elderly, female and subnormal - these groups brought on or invented victimisation by being the kind of person that they are - this can include lifestyles;e factors, such as where you go etc
Wolfgang - found 26% of homicides in Philadelphia were triggered by victim precipitation events that led to the homicides such as being the first to use violence
positivist victimology eval
x1 positive
- Brookman - Wolfgang shows importance of victim-offender relationships
x3 negatives
- idea of ‘victim-precipitation’ came under attack when applied to women and rape - feminists saw this as victim-blaming and an example of male stream sociology
- ignores wider structural factors e.g poverty
- overlooks victimless crime and that is legal
theories of victimisation - critical victimology
- Structural factors: such as patriarchy, power, poverty - these place powerless groups such as women and the poor at greater risk of victimisation. Mawby and Walkate argue that Victimisation is a form os structural powerlessness
- The state’s power to apply or deny the label of victim - ‘Victim’ is a social construct in the same ways as ‘crime ‘ is. through the CJS process, the state applies the label of victim to some but withholds it from others - e.g when police decide not to press charges against a man for for assaulting his wife - denying victim status
tombs and Whyte - hierarchy if victimisation
powerless are most likely to be victimised - less likely to be given status of victim
in safety crime where employers violate the law (which can lead to injury) and in rape uses the status of ‘victim’ is usually denied
critical victimology eval
positive - useful in drawing attention to power relation and the role of the stat in defining victims - ‘victim’ as social construct and how this benefits the powerful at the expense of the powerless
negative - Flynn - extending the definition to a ‘global’ vicitmiology’ mean that everyone becomes a victim - so concept of victim becomes meaningless - better to focus on traditional concept of victim crime
- ignores extent to which victims may contribute to their own victimisation through their own choices
theories of victimisation - feminist and radical victimologists
Drew attention away from the street and towards the home and private sphere
concept of victim extended to those suffering private or hidden injury - e.g domestic violence but also work-related injury
feminist and radical eval
useful focus on women’s experiences as victims, previously ignored
Newburn and Stanko - focus on some as victims has led to a dichotomy. with men as perpetrators and women as victims - ignores men’s experiences as victims - instead should focus on ways in which men routinely victimise women and other men
