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Victimization theories essay
Victimization theories essay
Victimization research paper
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Victimology is the scientific study of the physical, emotional, and financial harm people suffer because of a crime or illegal activity. Victimologists ask who was involved, how they were involved, where the victimization occurred, and when. They then try to explain why and figure out what can be done to help the victim or prevent the crime from happening again. Deciding what can be done for the victim can be determined by their studying of what already occurs when the criminal justice system handles the case as well as the perceived and actual seriousness of the victimization. Victimology askes a number of questions such as who is a victim or a specifically a crime victim. People can be victimized in many ways but only sometimes are they a …show more content…
How does the victim contribute to their victimization? Vulnerable relationships that consist of a victim that is in an unfamiliar place or is dependent on others especially their perpetrator are taken into consideration. Impacts of Victimization can be economic, abstract, non-economic damages such as an injury, disability, or other non-monetary subjective damages. Economic costs can strike an individual, family or society as a whole. Abstract damages do not necessarily have firm value but represent a loss of variety of expenses. These expense can range from loss of employee morale or productivity to loss of sales. Traditional personal and property victimizations are pervasive problems in society. Personal crime receives greater attention than property crimes despite the fact that property crime is more prevalent. The extent and impact of property crime is not small. The economic losses related to property crime are not inconsequential given the number of offenses. Losses from property crime alone easily reach into the billions of dollars each …show more content…
The UCR provides standardized crime definitions making it possible to make comparisons of different jurisdictions and times. This is achieved through what the FBI calls Index or Part 1 crimes which are personal crimes: that includes murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault; and property offenses which consist of: burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The UCR gathers a large amount of information and details about these Index crimes along with other reported crimes and arrests for Part II offenses. Part II offenses include sex offense, offenses against the family, and
The UCR is a cooperative effort for nation-wide law enforcement agencies to report on national crime statistics. According to the FBI's "Summary of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program," every month, "18,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily report data on crimes brought to their attention" (as cited in "Uniform Crime Reports"). The UCR first began in the 1920s and 30s. By 1930, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) was made responsible for compiling the data, though the FBI does not and has never collected the crime statistic data itself. The UCR divides crimes into two major categories called Part I offenses and Part II offenses. Part I reports data on "violent and property crimes" ("Uniform Crime Reports"). The list of crimes included under the violent crime classification is "aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery" ("Uniform Crime Reports"). The list of crimes classified under property crimes
Stevens, Mark. (2000). Victim Impact Statements Considered in Sentencing. Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law, 2(1), 3. Retrieved from http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1071&context=bjcl
UCR takes note of all crimes in the Criminal Code annually recorded by the ‘dark figure’ of policing, whereas GSS on Victimization only sources eight types of offences self-reported via phone interviews quinquennial for the past year. The loose ends of both surveys tie together to provide an accurate overall trend of crime rates in Canada. UCR and GSS on Victimization are equally important to the study of crime. They are able to compare crime rates by geographical regions, crime severity, and characteristics of victimization. Criminologists require this information obtained from the surveys to study the causes, effects, and social impact of crime and victimization, in order to determine how to predict, deter, and prohibit criminal activity. They provide a more robust measure of the extent and impact of criminal activity in Canadian society. Together they provide an accurate measurement of crime through police reports and self-reporting of broad social surveys, rather than alone since both are lacking in their own ways. As a difference in timing is a key characteristic in the differences in the polls. UCR is annually conducted, whereas GSS on Victimization is processed every five years for the forgoing 12
…many people now acquire "victimhood" through counseling. Being a "victim" draws sympathy. It explains the tragedies, the failures, the hardships, the health problems and the disappointments of life. It relieves people of some of life's natural burdens: dealing with complexity, facing things beyond their control, and accepting responsibility for decisions and actions.
Victimology is the scientific study of the physical, emotional, and financial harm people suffer from illegal activities. A common struggle Victimologists face is determining who the victim is. In general, crimes don 't have an “ideal victim”. The term ideal victims refer to someone who receives the most sympathy from society (Christie, 2016). An example of this would be a hardworking, honest man who on his way to work, had his wallet taken by force. Most people in society would have sympathy for him. He spent his life making an honest living to earn what he has and was a victim of a robbery. Victimologists study the interactions victims have with criminals, society, and the criminal justice system (Karmen, 2015). According to (Karmen, 2015)
When the victim does not fit the ideal victim attributes which society has familiarised themselves with, it can cause complications and confusion. Experts have noticed there is already a significant presence of victim blaming, especially for cases involving both genders. The fear of being blamed and rejected by the public is prominent in all victims. Victim blaming proclaims the victim also played a role in the crime by allowing the crime to occur through their actions (Kilmartin and Allison, 2017, p.21). Agarin (2014, p.173) underlines the problem of victim blaming is due to the mass of social problems and misconceptions within society. The offender can have “an edge in court of public opinion” if victim blaming exists, resulting in the prevention of the case accomplishing an effective deduction in court (Humphries, 2009, p.27). Thus, victims will become more reluctant to report offences because of their decrease in trust in the police and criminal justice system, leading to the dark figure of
Whatever is the case, victims’ situations are self-generated and can be prevented if these potential victims can improve on their interpersonal skills. For example, there are two type of situations that are connected to victim precipitated homicide. The first situation is the situational rage where the victim engaged with the offender due to an
The nature and damage of white-collar crime can result in a variety of punishments for the offender. Some sanctions being time in prison, some being fines, and others being a combination of both. For example, Chalana McFarland who was a real estate attorney and was accused of fraud, money laundering and other crimes costing investors $20 million. She was charged with $12 million in restitution and thirty years in prison (Haury, 2012). Another example would be Bernie Madoff, who owned Madoff Securities, was involved in a Ponzi scheme. It is believed that investors lost $50 billion dollars. Curently Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence in a prison in Butner, N.C (Haury, 2012). As these white-collar crime cases show, the costs of these crimes can be quite serve and earn life sentences as well as very hefty fines. Moreover, white-collar crimes have huge economic effects on victims, often causing life altering losses. Under consideration white-collar crimes are quite high-cost actions that hold large possible punishments and large ethical issues. In a research experiment done by Christian Seipel and Stefanie Eifler, a theory branching from rational choice theory was tested in relation to crime. The theory they explored was referred to as high- and low- cost theory. This theory discusses the factors that influence low cost crime and high cost crime. Low cost being defined as crimes that have low
The ‘direct costs’ are the costs arising from the crime taking place, i.e. damage to property. The ‘elimination costs’ include costs to society including funding the police force and the prison service. These costs may be calculated using the principle of opportunity cost. The net economic cost of crime to society is thus the difference between what gross domestic product would be if there were neither criminal nor crime prevention activities, and what GDP currently is, given the present state of crime and prevention (Sharp et al, 1996). Thus, there is an optimal level of crime for society. However, it is very difficult to justify to society that there is an optimal level of particularly devastating crimes like murder.
The Uniform Crime Report, which was developed in the 1930s, is commonly used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a record of crimes committed all across the United States. These crimes, which fall under two categories, Part I and Part II offenses, are reported by local police to the Federal Bureau of Investigation each year. Part I offenses are considered to be the more serious of crimes recognized by society. Such examples of this are homicide, forcible rape, robbery, arson, motor vehicle theft, etc. Part II offenses are those that are considered less serious, such as fraud, simple assault, drug abuse, gambling, stolen property, embezzlement, etc. Part I crimes can also be subdivided into what are known as violent crimes and property crimes. (Barkan, 2012). However, there are both some positive and negative aspects of this type of crime measurement. The following paper will explore the small amount of pros and numerous cons associated with the Uniform Crime Report.
Unlike Criminology, victimology has only been around starting in the late 1930s to early 1940s. Several specialist from the beginning to present day, have advanced the research and study of victimization and the theories of victimization by adding new ways of identifying them through research. Everyone has their own theory of victimization. Some people say that the victim asked for it, or deserved it; others say they will never become one. Early victimologists, like Hans Von Hentig, Benjamin Mendelsohn, Sellin and Wolfgang based their theories of victimology on the victim and offender relationship. They believed that the victim had some type of culpability, some victims intentionally made themselves available to the crime and that some victims actually made their offender into the
According to Tcherni, M. Davies, A. Lopes, G. and Lizotte, A. "A pronounced drop in crime, since the early 1990s, has encompassed every crime category tracked by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, including property crime". Crime been dropping since the 1990s proves that the methods that communities and police agencies are using decrease the number of crimes but it do not stop it. But having the number going down year by year gives a positive reinforcement in the methods that are been used. For example, in the year 1985 property crime cases register was of 31,500 and after 29 years the number of register cases had been decreased up to 13,000
Victim precipitation is separated into two different categories: victim facilitation and victim provocation. Victim facilitation being instances where the victim "facilitated" the crime by creating the opportunity, such as: walking around late at night in dangerous areas, going to the ATM and withdrawing large amounts of money at unsafe times or places, getting intoxicated and diminishing one's own capacity to protect themselves. In all these cases someone is more easily a target or a victim because of a situation they put themselves in making it easier to be taken advantage of. Victim provocation is an even more active role in potential victimization. Provocation is when the victim overtly entices or antagonizes their perpetrator. This could again go along with intoxication when someone is provoking or pushing the buttons of someone else to the point that they provoke violence from the second party.
The U.S. Department of Labor (2011) reported the national average of unemployment for 2008 was 5.8 percent. The rate dramatically increased in 2009 with an average of 9.3 percent and 9.6 percent for 2010. While unemployment rates have increased, the FBI’s preliminary reports for 2010 show that law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have reported a decrease of 6.2 percent in the number of violent crimes for the first 6 months of 2010 when compared to figures reported for the same time in 2009. The violent crime category includes rape, murder, robbery, and aggravated result. The number of property crimes also decreased 2.8 percent when compared to the same time last year. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson decreased 14.6 percent when compared to the same time periods of 2009 (FBI, 2011).
First, it is important to understand the types of crime that are often associated to victim blaming. The first is rape; this will include myths about rape. Second, is domestic violence both physical and mental abuse. Rape