Victimology Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

What stats has the CSEW gathered?

AO3

A
  • 2018: about 1 in 4 people have experienced crimes against themselves or home
  • Those most at risk were young men (16-24), full time students, and the unemployed
  • The risk for people over 75 was just 0.4%
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Who are the positivist victimologists?

AO1/2

A
  • Miers: positive victimology aims to identify factors that make people more likely to be victims, focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence e.g. assault, and aims to identify victims who have contributed to their own victimisation
  • Tierney: how women dress make them more likely to be victims of sexual assault, ethnic minorities in inner city areas are more likely to join gangs and be victims of violent crime
  • Hentig: identifies 13 characteristics that make people more vulnerable including being a woman, elderly, and mentally ill
  • Wolfgang: out of 588 Philadelphia homocides, 26% involved victim preciptation
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

How can we evaluate positivist victimology?

AO3

A
  • Victim blaming: blames women in particular for being sexually assaulted rather than rapists
  • Amir: 1 in 5 rape cases were victim preciptated - the women were at least partly to blame as they were ‘asking for it’
  • Ignores structures: focuses on indivduals rather than acknowledging wider societal structures that make them vulnerable e.g. poverty, racism
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Who are critical victimologists?

AO1/2

A

Based on structural factors like patriarchy and poverty.
- Mawby and Walklate: victimisation is a form of structural powerlessness. The CJS has the power to decide who is a victim and who isn’t e.g. a police choosing not to prosecute a husband for domestic violence denies the wife victim status
- Tombs and Whyte: employers violate health and safety laws and have the power to label it as an ‘accident’. Takes away any power the victims have to the label of victim

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is the hierarchy of victimology?

AO1

A

The powerless in society are most likely to be victims of crime but least likely to be recognised by the state. e.g. criminals and prostitutes are more at risk but people care less whereas professionals, children, and the elderly are less at risk but people care more when they are victims as they are higher on the victim hierarchy

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What are examples of critical victimology and the hierarchy?

AO2/3

A
  • 2017 Grenfell Tower Fire: council housing in Kensigton had highly flammable cladding that caught fire. 7 years on and there are still individuals who need to be rehoused and similar buildings with the same cladding still exist across the UK - but inhabitants are WC, ethnic minorities so they are low on the hierarchy
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

How can we evaluate critical victimology?

AO3

A
  • Ignores the role victims play in their own victimisation e.g. not making their homes safe - Home Office Campaign: “don’t advertise your homes to thieves”
  • In today’s society, it’s only the CJS that has the power to label people as victims - the media can do this, especially social media can do this e.g. Marc Duggan. For someone to be ‘guilty by press’ (Greer and Reiner) someone else must be a victim by press
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is the relationship between gender and victimisation?

(stats)

AO1/2/3

A
  • Around 70% of homicide victims are male
  • An incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute and 2 women are killed each week by a current or former partner
  • Walklate: Women make up 92% of all rape cases BUT 2 out of 3 don’t report it
  • There was a 61% increase in calls to the domestic violence helpline in 2020
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Why does Walklate believe women don’t report crime?

AO1

A

Secondary victimisation:
- Women don’t report crime as they go on trial twice
- First they have to go through the experience making them a victim
- Then they have to relive the experience as their entire character is put on trial

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

How does the Ruth Coppinger rape case show Walklate’s point?

AO2

A
  • A man was acquitted for raping a 17 year old girl after a defence lawyer told the jury: “you have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front”
  • If a 17 year old can be seen as ‘asking for it’ then women have no reason to believe they’ll be listened to
  • The controversy led Irish MP, Ruth Coppinger, to hold up a lace thong in parliament to highlight “routine victim-blaming”
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

How can we analyse Walklate?

AO3

A
  • 2024 Telegraph: 3/4 of defence lawyers use victim blaming language
  • Adler: especially relevant to single mothers who are believed less in court
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What scholars can we apply to why men are more likely to be victims?

AO1/2

A
  • McRobbie: bedroom culture - women are controlled more and forced into the bedroom - men are more likely to be in dangerous situations
  • Miller: subcultures - men are more likely to belong to criminal subcultures which in turn puts them at greater risk of crime - one of the focal concerns of criminal WC subculture is ‘masculinity’ and ‘toughness’ this translates to violent crime which makes them more likely to be victims of violence
  • Crisis of masculinity: men put themselves in situations more likely to commit crime to overcompensate which puts them at greater risk. Winlow: Sutherland bouncers
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is the relationship between ethnicity and victimisation?

AO1/2

A
  • CSEW and Home Office stats show that ethnic minorities are more likely to be victims of most crimes than white people
  • Black and Indian ethnic groups are more likely to be robbed
  • Black people are more likely than white people to be assaulted or murdered
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

How does Clancy et al explain the link between ethnicity and victimisation?

AO1

A
  • Ethnic minorities are more likely to be unemployed
  • Ethnic minorities have a younger age structure - younger people are more likely to be victims
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

How can we analyse Clancy?

AO3

A

Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have the highest rates of unemployment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

How do Shaw and McKay explain ethnicity and victimology?

AO3

A
  • EMs live in the zone of transmission
  • These are cheaper areas with frequent waves of immigration leading to social disorganisation
  • People who stay in these areas tend to be very poor and unemployed and pass on criminal norms and values to their children - cultural transmission theory
17
Q

How else can we evaluate ethnicity and victimisation?

AO3

A
  • Messerschmidt: black lower WC youths have less expectations of a reasonable job and so turn to gangs and violence to assert masculinity and/or use serious property crime to achieve material success
  • EMs are lower on the hierarchy of victimisation - tend to be from inner city areas which are low on the hierarchy. Gang violence is less reported than crime in ‘good’ areas as these places don’t tend to be occupied by EMs
  • Stephen Lawrence VS Madeline McCann: Stephen was very low on the victim hierarchy and so arresting and prosecuting just 2 of his killers has taken over 20 years whereas people still look for Madeline McCann to this day
  • Sutherland: differential association - if someone interacts with other lawbreakers they are more likely to follow suit - this especially applies to EMs living in inner city areas
18
Q

What has been found on age and victimisation?

AO1

A
  • Wilson: young people are the age group most likely to be victims of crime
  • 2003 Crime and Justice Survey: conducted on 10-15 year olds found that 35% of them had been a victim of at least one personal crime e.g. assault, robbery, theft
19
Q

How does Palmer apply to age and victimisation?

AO2

A

Toxic Childhood: modern children are more at risk of things like child abuse and online grooming

20
Q

How can we analyse age and victimisation?

AO3

A

Child Abuse Image Database:
- Found 2.1 mil images of child abuse in 2019
- Most sexual assault begins at a young age and eventually stops by the age of 16 which is when they would be included in victim surveys

21
Q

What has been found about class and victimisation?

AO2/3

A
  • CSEW 2014: 20% of the poorest areas face double the risk of burglarly
  • It’s estimated that 1 in 4 households will become a victim of white collar crime at some point
  • Newburn and Rock: homeless people were 12 times more likely to have experience violence than the general population. 8 in 10 had been urinated on while sleeping
22
Q

What scholars can we apply to class and victimisation?

AO2

A
  • WC come from areas with high physical disorder - Kelling: need environmental crime prevention
  • Inverse victimisation law - individuals with the least valuable goods tend to be those with the most amount stolen - can’t afford proper security e.g. living in a gated community, ring doorbells, CCTV - this makes stealing from them a more rational choice - Clarke
  • Slapper and Tombs: criminogenic capitalism - everyone commits crimes but the bourgeoisie and corporations can avoid persecution due to being lawmakers that can work the system
  • Tombs and Whyte: health and safety regulations are used by corporations for their own gain - when an incident occurs they can blame an individual for being ‘accident prone’ or not following regulations
23
Q

How can we analyse class and victimisation?

AO3

A
  • Philip Green - billionaire owner of BHS allowed workers to pay into a private pension fund. When BHS went bust and had to go into administration, BHS used the money from the pension fund to pay - many people lost their entire pension
  • Post Office Scandal: between 1999 and 2023 the post office wrongly accused thousands of postmasters of stealing money when it was actually faulty Horizon technology making it look like this. 900 postmasters were prosecuted and 236 went to prison and over 4,000 are due compensation which very few have received
  • In 2022, 2 year old Awaab Ishaq died due to mould poisoning - the house was deemed unfit for living but the landlord was not found legally negligible
24
Q

What does Hoyle identify as the impacts of victimisation?

AO1

A

There’s lots of emotional effects rather than just physical harm or material loss e.g. anger, anxiety, PTSD, depression

25
Q

What did the CSEW find about the effects of victimisation?

AO2

A

‘High levels of worry’ around being a victim which allowed many industries to profit e.g. ring doorbells

26
Q

What is an emotional impact of victimisation according to feminists?

AO2

A
  • Brownmiller: Women live in fear of being attacked
  • Walklate: the fear of rape is a powerful detterent against being out at night
  • ANALYSIS: Especially relevant post the rape and murder of Sarah Everard who was attacked by a police officer - women aren’t even safe with the people supposed to protect them
27
Q

What is Walklate’s impact of victimisation?

AO2

A

Secondary victimisation:
1. women have to go through the attack
2. then have to go through the trial where their credibility and character is questioned
Female victims rather than male offenders are put on trial

28
Q

How can we analyse feminism and victimisation?

AO3

A

Gisele Pelicot rape case:
- Was drugged by her husband for decades as he made money from men paying to rape her
- There are over 50 accused rapists
- Gisele has encouraged the French public to challenge secondary victimisation and victim blaming attitudes in trial: “It is not for us to have shame, it’s for them”