Victims Of Crime Essay

We are all affected by crime, whether we are a direct victim, a family member or a friend of a victim. It can interfere with your daily life, your personal sense of safety and your ability to trust others.

Victims of crime will deal with a wide range of immediate, short-term and long-term reactions. All victims will experience shock, distress, numbness and disconnection. It can affect their emotional, psychological, physical, social, financial and spiritual wellbeing, causing people to change their behaviour and lifestyles. Victims who have suffered violent crimes and threats to their lives and personal injury will have a different reaction and have a harder time coping with their feelings than those who are victims of nonviolent crimes. As everyone reacts differently to similar offences it is impossible to predict what effects the individual victim will suffer.

Children who have been victims of crime will suffer the same reactions as adults, but they may have other reactions such as bedwetting, withdrawal, stuttering, or not talking and may even become very clingy. As a way of taking control back, older children may consider revenge

As victims of crime are not

It is associated with levels of criminal victimisation in an area, signs of physical and social decay and a general sense of vulnerability. It can depend on the situation a person finds themselves in, such as a woman who is frightened walking home alone in the dark. While the fear of a crime happening can have a devastating effect on a person’s quality of life, it can also have a positive effect on citizens by motivating them to shoulder some of the burdens of crime by channelling their fear in constructive ways, like installing better security measures, security alarms for homes and cars, stronger locks, better lighting and even buying a guard dog, thereby adding to general