Victim Movement Essay

Before the beginning of this online course, I did not know anything about the victim movement. I had not even heard of it. The victim movement has radically changed a lot of things within the past few decades. It has changed in such a way that it has affected the self perceived idea of being a victim, crime around the world, and resources for victims. First of all, victimology has been a huge topic within the past few decades. The term “victimology” was first coined in Europe after World War II, mainly to gain a better understanding of the relationship between a criminal and victim (Young and Stein, 2004). This is a very interesting concept to me. Before the victim theory arose, Victims were the bottom of everything. Victims had to carry

With the rise of crimes, naturally there were more victims who were affected by those crimes, who were left with virtually no hope. Something had to be done. During the height of the vietnam war, American citizens saw the power of television. Citizens saw the power of protests which ultimately molded the victim movement (The Victim Service Network). The victim movement has been a huge platform for political and social change. The victim movement is said to have started with the woman’s suffrage and civil rights movement (The US Department of Justice). I also find this very motivating and jarring at the same time. It took many protests to change the view of victims in the society. Today, it seems as if this victim movement is still occurring with the various shootings, especially surrounding police brutality. There are protests today, particularly by the organization Black Lives Matter, which seems to mimic the protests and movement that occurred in the 1960s that revolutionized the way victims were viewed by the society and government. I find this motivating because it proves, once again, that there is absolutely power in numbers. If something needs change, it only takes one person to stand up and motivate others to make change happen. This can be on a small or larger scale, as seen