Victimology & Criminal
Justice
Victimology: History & perspective
History
Victimology exists since 1948
Benjamin Mendelsohn
o Coined the word ‘Victimology’
Hans Von Henting
o German Professor
o Fled to US from nazi-Germany
o “Criminal & his victim” ~ 1948
o Founder of victimology
Interested in how a victim becomes a victim
o “Why in history has everyone always focused on the guy with the big stick, the hero,
the activist, to the neglect of poor slob who is at the end of the sick, the victim, the
passivist or maybe the poor slob isn’t all that much of a passivist victim, maybe he
asked for it?”
Victim precipitation
o Role of victim in event of crime
Positive: how can victims protect themselves
Negative: should we blame the victim for his/her conduct
Bv. Amir: “Patterns in forcible rape”
Emphasizes the role of victims of rape in their victimizatinon
Victimological risk analysis
o = who runs the most risk of being victimized
Different perspectives on victimology
Criminological perspectives
o Main issues
Fear of crime
Impact of victimization on punitiveness
Repeat victimization
o Source: crime victim surveys
Purpose = measure volume (~prevalence & incidence) of crime including the
“dark number”
Limitations of official stat.
The dark number
o Not all crimes are reported/detected by police
o Not all reported crimes are duly recorded
o Many crimes rely on victim reports
Accuracy
o Differences/changes in def.
o Depend on willingness/ability to register
o Can be manipulated by police
, Difficulties for cross-country comparison & understanding trends
Lack of variables for further study
o Starting point:
How much crime is there & what role do victims play in crime?
Largely relatively routine forms of crime
Social psychological perspectives
o Classical experiments
Milgram obedience study
Zimbaro’s Stanford Prison experiment
Sherif’s Robbers Cave experiment
Darley’s Bystander Effect
o Relevant issues
The belief in a just world ~ Lerner & Simmons
The role of procedures In getting just outcomes ~ Thibaut & Walker
The magnitude gap between offenders & victims ~ Baumeister
Moralization Gap
o Differences in moral tone
Perpetrator sees justifications
Victims see actions as wholly unjustified
o Differences in impact
Perpetrator minimizes magnitude, sees impact as
reparable
Victim emphasizes severity & irreparable nature of
crime
o Differences in role of context
Perpetrator attributes event to context-factors
Victim attributes event to perpetrator
o Differences in time frame
Perpetrator sees pre-cursors & aftermath limited in
time-frame
Victims’ narrative extends through time
Differences in narratives form part of the explanation for
cycles of revenge
Even when retaliation is exactly balanced, its story
will not be
Dehumanization ~ Haslam
Competitive victimhood ~ Noor
o Starting point
Processes of victimization = largely determined by social forces & roles
Applies to reactions of victimization
Goal = capture universal causal determinants of processes of perpetration &
victimization
Justice perspectives
o Adversarial vs. inquisitorial systems
Adversarial system
No role for civil parties in criminal trials
o No role for victims, further reduced by plea bargaining
practices
, Emphasis on hearing in court as the place for presenting evidence
o Testifying in court as a source of “secondary” victimization
victim’s rights emerged
o Position of victims was the weakest here
o Need to maintain legitimacy of criminal justice process, &
maintain victims’ cooperation with criminal processes
Inquisitorial system
Civil/adhered parties/auxiliary prosecutors
o Victims as civil parties
Pre-trail investigation by magistrate
o Testifying in pre-trail investigation less burdensome than in
court
o Emerging of victim’s rights (~adversarial systems)
1950-70
Initially activity in Anglo-Saxon countries
o Important distinction between priority for services to victims
& rights for victims
Victim rights in US
Victim support in UK
o Victim compensation in New Zealand
1970’s
International symposia on victimology since 1973
World society of victimology ( ~1979)
UN declaration of basic principles of justice for victims of crime &
abuse of power (~1985)
EU framework decision (~2001)
EU victims directive (~2012)
Main victims’ rights
To respect & recognition at all stages of criminal proceedings
To receive info about progress of case
To provide info to officials responsible for decisions relating to
offender
To have legal advice available
To protection, for victims’ privacy & physical safety
To compensation, from offender & State
To receive victim support
To mediation
o Key issues
Role of compensation & restitution
Secondary victimization
Burden of interacting with legal system
Procedural justice
Importance of process itself
Victims perspectives on outcome
Victims & role of emotions in criminal justice
Victims perspectives & connection to revenge & retribution
Development of victims rights
International contexts
, Form, function & purpose of victim participation
o Starting point:
Role of victims in & around criminal justice
Clinical psychological perspectives
o Origins of PTSD (~Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
Returning soldiers
Not extreme psychological reaction to Vietnam, but delayed-onset
o Extreme forms of survivor guilt
o Feeling scapegoated/betrayed by country
o Rage at society
o Emotional numbing
o Disconnected from other people
o Inability to love
Lack of support for veterans
Part of actual scapegoating
o Psychological problems were pre-existing, not a consequence
of Vietnam
o Part of “malingering” attempt to gain benefits
Psychiatrists
Attempt to develop “objective” category veterans eligible for right
to support & benefits = Post-Vietnam Syndrome
o Not accepted by APA for inclusion in DSM
Move from war to other experiences
Connection to other events
Bv. child abuse, sexual abuse, Holocaust survivors
o Medical diagnosis seen as part of recognition of their
enduring suffering
Included/defined symptoms in a manner that (seemed to) fit
different situations
post-traumatic stress disorder in DSM-III
o Prevalence of PTSD
o Mechanisms of PTSD
o Development of techniques to combat PTSD
o Post-traumatic growth
o PTSD & justice process
o Critical issues
PTSD & social context
PTSD & cultural context
PTSD & therapy culture
o Starting point
Impact of victimization (not only by crime & moral transgression) on victims’
mental health
Justice
Victimology: History & perspective
History
Victimology exists since 1948
Benjamin Mendelsohn
o Coined the word ‘Victimology’
Hans Von Henting
o German Professor
o Fled to US from nazi-Germany
o “Criminal & his victim” ~ 1948
o Founder of victimology
Interested in how a victim becomes a victim
o “Why in history has everyone always focused on the guy with the big stick, the hero,
the activist, to the neglect of poor slob who is at the end of the sick, the victim, the
passivist or maybe the poor slob isn’t all that much of a passivist victim, maybe he
asked for it?”
Victim precipitation
o Role of victim in event of crime
Positive: how can victims protect themselves
Negative: should we blame the victim for his/her conduct
Bv. Amir: “Patterns in forcible rape”
Emphasizes the role of victims of rape in their victimizatinon
Victimological risk analysis
o = who runs the most risk of being victimized
Different perspectives on victimology
Criminological perspectives
o Main issues
Fear of crime
Impact of victimization on punitiveness
Repeat victimization
o Source: crime victim surveys
Purpose = measure volume (~prevalence & incidence) of crime including the
“dark number”
Limitations of official stat.
The dark number
o Not all crimes are reported/detected by police
o Not all reported crimes are duly recorded
o Many crimes rely on victim reports
Accuracy
o Differences/changes in def.
o Depend on willingness/ability to register
o Can be manipulated by police
, Difficulties for cross-country comparison & understanding trends
Lack of variables for further study
o Starting point:
How much crime is there & what role do victims play in crime?
Largely relatively routine forms of crime
Social psychological perspectives
o Classical experiments
Milgram obedience study
Zimbaro’s Stanford Prison experiment
Sherif’s Robbers Cave experiment
Darley’s Bystander Effect
o Relevant issues
The belief in a just world ~ Lerner & Simmons
The role of procedures In getting just outcomes ~ Thibaut & Walker
The magnitude gap between offenders & victims ~ Baumeister
Moralization Gap
o Differences in moral tone
Perpetrator sees justifications
Victims see actions as wholly unjustified
o Differences in impact
Perpetrator minimizes magnitude, sees impact as
reparable
Victim emphasizes severity & irreparable nature of
crime
o Differences in role of context
Perpetrator attributes event to context-factors
Victim attributes event to perpetrator
o Differences in time frame
Perpetrator sees pre-cursors & aftermath limited in
time-frame
Victims’ narrative extends through time
Differences in narratives form part of the explanation for
cycles of revenge
Even when retaliation is exactly balanced, its story
will not be
Dehumanization ~ Haslam
Competitive victimhood ~ Noor
o Starting point
Processes of victimization = largely determined by social forces & roles
Applies to reactions of victimization
Goal = capture universal causal determinants of processes of perpetration &
victimization
Justice perspectives
o Adversarial vs. inquisitorial systems
Adversarial system
No role for civil parties in criminal trials
o No role for victims, further reduced by plea bargaining
practices
, Emphasis on hearing in court as the place for presenting evidence
o Testifying in court as a source of “secondary” victimization
victim’s rights emerged
o Position of victims was the weakest here
o Need to maintain legitimacy of criminal justice process, &
maintain victims’ cooperation with criminal processes
Inquisitorial system
Civil/adhered parties/auxiliary prosecutors
o Victims as civil parties
Pre-trail investigation by magistrate
o Testifying in pre-trail investigation less burdensome than in
court
o Emerging of victim’s rights (~adversarial systems)
1950-70
Initially activity in Anglo-Saxon countries
o Important distinction between priority for services to victims
& rights for victims
Victim rights in US
Victim support in UK
o Victim compensation in New Zealand
1970’s
International symposia on victimology since 1973
World society of victimology ( ~1979)
UN declaration of basic principles of justice for victims of crime &
abuse of power (~1985)
EU framework decision (~2001)
EU victims directive (~2012)
Main victims’ rights
To respect & recognition at all stages of criminal proceedings
To receive info about progress of case
To provide info to officials responsible for decisions relating to
offender
To have legal advice available
To protection, for victims’ privacy & physical safety
To compensation, from offender & State
To receive victim support
To mediation
o Key issues
Role of compensation & restitution
Secondary victimization
Burden of interacting with legal system
Procedural justice
Importance of process itself
Victims perspectives on outcome
Victims & role of emotions in criminal justice
Victims perspectives & connection to revenge & retribution
Development of victims rights
International contexts
, Form, function & purpose of victim participation
o Starting point:
Role of victims in & around criminal justice
Clinical psychological perspectives
o Origins of PTSD (~Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
Returning soldiers
Not extreme psychological reaction to Vietnam, but delayed-onset
o Extreme forms of survivor guilt
o Feeling scapegoated/betrayed by country
o Rage at society
o Emotional numbing
o Disconnected from other people
o Inability to love
Lack of support for veterans
Part of actual scapegoating
o Psychological problems were pre-existing, not a consequence
of Vietnam
o Part of “malingering” attempt to gain benefits
Psychiatrists
Attempt to develop “objective” category veterans eligible for right
to support & benefits = Post-Vietnam Syndrome
o Not accepted by APA for inclusion in DSM
Move from war to other experiences
Connection to other events
Bv. child abuse, sexual abuse, Holocaust survivors
o Medical diagnosis seen as part of recognition of their
enduring suffering
Included/defined symptoms in a manner that (seemed to) fit
different situations
post-traumatic stress disorder in DSM-III
o Prevalence of PTSD
o Mechanisms of PTSD
o Development of techniques to combat PTSD
o Post-traumatic growth
o PTSD & justice process
o Critical issues
PTSD & social context
PTSD & cultural context
PTSD & therapy culture
o Starting point
Impact of victimization (not only by crime & moral transgression) on victims’
mental health
