Amanda Todd Research Paper

Effects of Victimization
Crime is often sense as an event that simply affects the one person that the crime was committed against, in reality, crime has a very deep and wide rooted effect on many people that can be victimized directly or indirectly. In today’s world, the internet has become a tool that many criminals use in order to commit crimes against people and therefore victimize individuals. Amanda Todd is an example of an individual who was victimized by other individuals with the use of the internet and because of her sever victimization many other individuals were victimized due what Amanda Todd sadly faced. This paper will discuss the effects of victimization on Amanda Todd and the backlash for society from the crimes committed

against her.
Victim profile/ background
Amanda Todd was a young girl from Port Coquitlam, British Colombia who was the victim of severe harassment, bullying, and child exploitation who decided to take her life by committing suicide at the age of 15 years old, after years of suffering due to what she had been through (Martins, 2012).

Amanda Todd was described by her mother Carol Todd as being a bright, strong, and unique young woman (Martins, 2012). Amanda Todd was exploited over the internet by a man who gained her trust by convincing her that he carried for her. This was his way of getting to a point with her where he could ask for and receive pictures that were revealing in nature. Once he received these revealing picture of Amanda Todd he used them to attempt to blackmail her into sending him more pictures and videos that are revealing in nature (Amanda Todd, 2012). When Amanda Todd stopped communicating with this male he used the pictures of her naked to get back at her by posting them on the internet for the whole world to see. This was the start of years of hardship for Amanda Todd due to the bullying she experienced after the picture were leaked on the internet, the depression, and anxiety began to take over her life. This pushed her to the point in her life where she would hurt herself by cutting and eventually ending her

life.
Direct victimization
Direct victimization in when an individual suffers from physical harm, emotional harm, or even financial harm directly from a crime that this is committed against them. (University of the PACIFIC, 2018). In the case of Amanda Todd, she was the directly victimized by the harassment and bullying she faced from people over the internet and in person at times. Amanda Todd suffered extreme emotional harm because of the harassment and bullying that she was facing in her life to the point where it all became too much for her to handle (Martins, 2012). This severe victimization was what pushed Amanda Todd to sadly get to the point in her life where she felt the only way for all the hurting to stop was for her to end her life.
Secondary victimization
Secondary victimization occurs when someone has been a direct victim of a crime and after the fact society places blame on the victim for their role in the event or rehashes passed experiences that hurt the victim in some form (Schulz, 2000). Amanda repeatedly experienced secondary victimization over the internet because she was harassed by lots of individual who would post the pictures of her on the internet and tag people Amanda Todd went to school with, then her schoolmates would pass judgment onto her. This placed Amanda Todd in a position where she felt like she was alone because classmates avoided her because they did not want to be associated with someone who is popular for all the wrong reasons (Amanda Todd, 2012).
Support/ Healing
Having support in after being victimized is every important because victims that do not receive as much support as they need often report having lower well-being (Denkers, 1999). In the case of Amanda Todd and the way, she was victimized it placed her in a position where she felt alone and did not feel like she had anyone on her side because people blamed her for sending the pictures of herself in the first place (Amanda Todd, 2012). She lost contact with her friends and lots of other people in her life because she developed anxiety which kept her at home alone. Although Amanda had the support of the police investigating and looking at laying criminal charges on the people involved in the harassment she faced she also had the support of her family and her mother Carol Todd. Amanda Todd also went to counselling to address her depression that she had developed due to her victimization. All of the help and support Amanda Todd received was not enough to help her move on because during her healing process she was stilling being bullied and harassed (Amanda Todd, 2012). Individual need to undergo healing after being victimized in their lives because without healing you cannot start to move on past the traumatic life experience. Amanda Todd’s death victimized lots of individual in a sense, for example, her mother Carol Todd had to deal with losing her daughter which words cannot describe how hard that would be. Carol Todd has begun her healing and has found a way to bring something go out of a terrible situation by helping to set up the Amanda Todd Legacy which raises money for mental heal awareness and suicide prevention helping Carl Todd know that her daughter was able to make lots of good in other people’s lives.
Victimization has the ability to heavily affect individual’s and their lives, victims of crimes can go through lots due to the effects of the crime directly and in the form of secondary victimization. Amanda Todd was an individual who faced lots of hardship droning the time she was being victimized but the secondary victimization she faced was the worst part. When someone is victimized to the extent that Amanda Todd was it is very important for them to have a strong support network and all the services they need in order for them to begin and complete a healing process so they can move on in their life.