Victimology: A Study of Crime Victims 1 Victimology is an important element in the process of learning about crime victims, the needs of the victims, and even about the perpetrator of the crime. It identifies the victims, reveals their physical and mental state before and after the crime, their social interactions, and ideas as to why they were a victim. Victimology does not give the reasons why a particular person is chosen by an offender, however it will give general overview of victim selection (Petherick, “Victimology” 2010) The definitions of victimology vary in the use of words within the definition, such as victim, crime victim or behavior of crime victim. Victimology as an academic term containing two elements; the Latin word “victima” which translate into victim and the Greek word “logos” which means a system of knowledge (Dussich “Victimology ‘Past, Present and Future’”2000). In it’s simplest definition, victimology is the study of the victim or victims of a particular offender (Wallace & Roberson 2011: 3).
field note slide 1. . Each crime scene is different and may require a different approach to processing the scene. However there is a basic crime scene protocol that should be adhered to in all crime scenes. These basic functions or tasks are as follows: Interview is the first step in processing a crime scene. The crime scene technician must interview the first officer at the scene or the victim to ascertain the "theory" of the case.
For Example, in criminal Justice the forces group could be from a high crime area with women who have lost child due to the crime in their neighborhoods. (Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. K. (2011) The third qualitative method is Intensive interviewing; it involves direct interaction between the researcher and a respondent or group. The researcher or interviewer ask open-ended questions which is usually unstructured questioning that deal with in-depth information that requires the participants to express their feeling and share experiences and perception on a topic that is research. (Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. K. 2011) The researchers are free to shift the discussion in any route they want to. Thus, unstructured interviewing with is particularly useful for discovering a subject generally.
Role of Victimology Victimology in its most simple form is the study of the victim or victims of a particular offender. It is defined as "the thorough study and analysis of victim characteristics" (Turvey, 1999) and may also be called "victim profiling" (Holmes, 1996). In essence criminal profilers are studying the harm the victim endured during the crime, plus its physical and emotional aspects. Victimologists are people who are in essence investigators, researchers, and observers of the victimized persons and their connection to the crime (Karmen, 2007). Holmes & Holmes (2009, p290) stated “To appraise a crime without some knowledge of the victim is certainly remiss.” The victim constitutes half of the crime therefore victimology should be heavily looked at in order to connect them to the offender (Douglas, Burgess, Burgess, & Ressler, 1992).Victimology is important to an investigation process in that, it is not just learning about the victim’s personal history and personality, but it also why the victim was chosen (Petherick, 2010).
Word count : 1700 Criminal victimization and rational theories The classical approach to explain crime has always revolved around examining the personal motivations of offenders for committing crime. However, in the recent past decades researchers have focused not only on offender incentive, but also on the lifestyles and activities of those at risk of being victimized. The following article explores different risk determinants, rational choice and social control theories in an attempt to establish both victim and offender's crime circumstances. Cohen, Kluegel and Land present the opportunity model of predatory victimization perspective as a basic explanatory model for criminal victimization. In order to comprehend why race, age and income have the potential to affect criminal victimization, the authors portray five main risk factors which are: exposure, guardianship, proximity to potential offenders, attractiveness of targets and definitional properties of specific crimes.
Statistics are usually collected on based on three categories: Offenses, the breach of law; Offenders, those who commit the offenses; and the victims, the ones who are offended against. The United States has programs in which they collect this data; the first is the Uniform Crime Reports, which is compiled by the FBI and the Crime Victimization Survey, handled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Crime statistics for the same crime can vary based on not just between countries and jurisdictions, but also between individual law enforcement officers that have come across the same exact case. There are some crimes that are reported to law enforcement but are not reported because the law enforcement officer that takes the report has the power of discretion. They have the ability to affect how much crime is recorded, based on how they record their activities.
Victims can also play an indirect role in a criminal incident, such as when a woman adopts a lifestyle that continually brings her into high-crime areas (Siegel 2011). The discovery that victims play an important role in the crime process has prompted the scientific study of victims, or victimology. Criminologists who focus their attention on crime victims refer to themselves as victimologists(Siegel 2011). Victimization’s Toll on Society The costs of victimization can include such things as damaged property, pain and suffering to victims, and the involvement of the police and other agencies of the justice system. The pain and suffering inflicted on an individual can result in the need for medical care, the loss of wages from not being able to go to work, and reduced quality of life from debilitating injuries and /or fear of being victimized again, which can result in not being able to go to work, long term medical care, and counseling.
Careful, thorough investigation is key to ensuring+ the potential physical evidence is not tainted or destroyed or potential witnesses overlooked. I am sure many agencies have programs in crime scene processing, the level of training and resources available varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.” (Reno, 2000) Assembling a set of guidelines and conducting preliminary investigation for criminal cases are best described by the FBI. The initial responding officer(s) shall promptly, yet cautiously, approach and enter crime scenes, remaining observant of any persons, vehicles, events, potential evidence, and environmental conditions. A FBI report issued in 2005 details that general crimes are outlined into three graduated levels of investigative activity. These activities are the checking of initial leads, preliminary inquiries, and full investigations.
Assess the usefulness of official statistics to our understanding of social problems. Illustrate your response with sociological arguments and evidence. To assess the usefulness of official statistics to our understanding of social problems, I will first look at what official statistics are, I will then look at crime and suicide as two examples of social problems. I will look at how both Positivists and Interpretativists use these statistics and how useful each of these sociological approaches find them. Official statistics is the name given to the numbers of crimes reported to or unveiled by the police themselves, which lead to a conviction, caution or are dealt with in some formal way by the law.
The British Crime Survey also includes crimes which are not reported to the police, therefore is an important alternative to police records and provides criminologists, the police, the courts, the media and anyone else who has an interest with the statistics, two different types of data: Firstly trends on crime over time chartered, Details are compiled from offenders who are eventually found guilty or cautioned; details gathered include sex and the age of the offender. Information is gathered on the “Known offender”, in this case the “Typical offender”, (Maguire 1997). Official crime