Victimology - Crime Flashcards
What is victimology?
The study of victims which attempts to identify whether some people are more prone to being victims and why
What is Positivist Victimology? (Miers)
1) It aims to identify the factors that produce patterns in victimisation
2) It focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence
3) It aims to identify victims who have contributed to their own victimisation
- sought to identify the social and psychological characteristics of victims that make them different from, and more vulnerable than, non-victims
What is Critical Victimology?
Left-wing approach based on conflict theories such as Marxism and Feminism, focus on:
1) Structural factors - patriarchy and poverty, place the powerless groups at greater risk of victimisation
2) The state’s power to apply or deny the label of victim - which is a social construct through the CJS, state applies the label to some but withholds it from others
What did Hans Von Hentig’s study find? (Positivist)
Identified females, elderly or mental ill people as being more prone to be victims and implied that the victims in some sense ‘invite’ victimisation by being the kind of person that they are
What did Wolfgang find? (Positivist)
Study of homicides in Philadelphia:
26% involved ‘victim precipitation’ - the victim triggered the vents leading to the homicide, for instance being the first to use violence
What did Tombs and Whyte find about the CJS? (Critical)
That it has the tendency to ‘fail to label’ certain crimes as crimes:
- tends to hide the crimes of the powerful and denies the powerless victims any redress
- powerless are most likely to be victimised yet least likely to be acknowledge by the state
What do Tombs and Whyte suggest about ‘safety crimes’? (Critical)
Show that ‘safety crimes’ where employers’ violations of the law lead to death or injury to workers, are often explained away as the fault of ‘accident prone’ workers
How can the ‘slut walk’ campaign show that a positivist victimology approach exists in our society?
It suggests that dressing ‘slutty’ attracts rapists
- encouraged people to dress in their normal clothes to show sexual assault happens no matter what women wear
What are the physical and emotional impact on victims?
For examples, research has found a variety of effects including disrupted sleep, feelings of helplessness and difficulties in social functioning
What is the creation of ‘indirect victims’?
People such as friends, relatives and witnesses become victims
What is fear of victimisation?
Crime may create a fear of becoming a victim:
- e.g. women are more afraid of going out in the dark for fears of an attack, yet it is young men who are the main victims of violence from strangers
What is secondary victimisation?
The idea that in addition to the impact of the crime itself, individuals may suffer further victimisation at the hands of the criminal justice system
What is ‘waves of harm’?
These are ‘message’ crimes aimed at intimidating whole communities, not just the primary victim - even more widely, such crimes also challenged the value system of the whole society
e.g. the Paris Attacks
What is repeat victimisation?
If you have been a victim once then you have an increase chance of being one again
What is multi-faceted?
More than once face e.g. age and gender etc combined
Where are the highest rates of victimisation found among the poor working class? (Social Class)
- the unemployed, long term sick and low-income families
- in areas of high physical disorder
- in areas of hight levels of deprivation
What did the 2007/08 BCS show about social class?
That those in the poorest areas are twice as likely to be the victim of a burglary and vehicle related theft than those in rich areas
What are the reasons for victimisation (Social Class)?
- crimogenic capitalism
- less money to spend on target hardening
- intra-crime
- low social cohesion
What did Wilson show about age and victimisation? (Age)
Young people are most likely to be victims of crime:
- 27% of 10-25 year olds reporting being victims of personal crimes like assault and theft
What are the reasons for victimisation? (Age)
- intra-crime
- subcultures
- more likely to be out in the ‘nocturnal economy’
What are the reasons for victimisation? (Ethnicity)
- racially motivated crimes
- younger age profile
- institutional racism
What gender is at a higher risk of victimisation? (Gender)
Young males age 16-24 have twice the risk of being victims than young women
What are the reasons for victimisation? (Gender)
- intra-crime
- patriarchy
- hegemonic masculinely
How many men and women suffer from domestic violence?
1/4 women and 1/6 men
