Victimology Notes 1 30 2020 PDF

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For Dr. Hodge's class....

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Shared Responsibility - Until victimology emerged, mainstream criminology had consistently ignored the role that injured parties might play in setting the stage for lawless behavior. - Victimologists have pledged to correct this imbalance by objectively examining all kinds of situations to determine whether people who were harmed might have played a role in their own downfall. - Implies that certain persons- not just the offenders did something wrong - This leads to the proposition that some - but not all - of the individuals who were hurt or experienced losses did not do all they could have done to protect themselves. Questions We Ask Criminologists - What is wrong with them? - Are there physical, mental, or cultural differences that distinguished offenders from the rest of us? Victimologists - What distinguishes victims from non-victims? - Do individuals who get targeted think or act differently from those who don’t? Repeat and Chronic Victims - Researchers looking for clear-cut cases of shared responsibility often focus on individuals who have suffered a series of thefts or attacks - Offenders seem to set their sights on certain individuals and households more than once during a given period in time. - Suffering three or more times during a relatively short time span qualifies a person as a “chronic victim” - Re-victimization often takes place soon after the initial incident, and then the risks begin to decline as time passes. - Hot Spots! - Individuals who are prayed on repeatedly - Victim Careers - The total number of victims

- One implementation of this focus on re-victimization and victim careers is that particular individuals might be making the same mistakes over and over again. - Permit their judgement by drinking too much - Failing to safeguard their personal property - Allowing themselves to become isolated by bystanders - Hanging out with people Who or What is the Blame for Specific Incidents? Victim blaming - Victim blaming assumes that the offender and the victim are somehow partners in the crime - To identify such cases, both parties’ possible motives, reputations, actions, and records of past arrests and convictions must be investigated - Follows a three stage process - 1. Assumption is made that there is something wrong with the victim - 2. These presumed differences are thought to be the source of their plight - 3. Victims are warned that if they want to avoid trouble in the future, they must change how they think and act...