Module: Victimology
Lecture 8: Victims of the State
This session looks at incidences and examples where the state is involved in
victimisation.
The ways in which the state is involved is quite broad.
The state can be directly responsible or people working on behalf of the state can be
responsible where they have failed to perform their duties.
Sometimes it can be a conjunction of powerful groups.
The state’s involvement in victimisation can often be topics that are quite hard to find
out about because they are not conventional stories that you find in the media.
We will cover forms of denial e.g. where the state is complicit in some way.
Two new stories from yesterday:
Grenfell Tower and its future
A leak that the government was intending to knock down Grenfell tower and
have it demolished without consulting families of victims and residents. This
was seen as a betrayal of a promise. Michael Gove has apologised for the
leak and says the tower won’t necessarily be demolished.
It highlights how there can be multiple and large victims involved where often
they have different ideas and feelings of what they want. It can be difficult to
get an agreement that meets and satisfies the needs of all victims.
Public inquiry into ‘mother and baby homes’ in Ireland
These homes operated throughout the 20 th century.
Pregnant woman who were not married were sent to these homes and were
mistreated and worked in exploitative ways.
Their babies were taken away from them and sent to orphanages.
Some victims who were interviewed talked about hoping to get answers –
they wanted to know who their parents were, who their siblings were etc.
This story links in with another story – the homes for indigenous children in
Canada where they were placed in these homes to integrate and adopt a
white Canadian culture.
Documentary: Uncovering Canada’s Buried Past
Lecture 8: Victims of the State
This session looks at incidences and examples where the state is involved in
victimisation.
The ways in which the state is involved is quite broad.
The state can be directly responsible or people working on behalf of the state can be
responsible where they have failed to perform their duties.
Sometimes it can be a conjunction of powerful groups.
The state’s involvement in victimisation can often be topics that are quite hard to find
out about because they are not conventional stories that you find in the media.
We will cover forms of denial e.g. where the state is complicit in some way.
Two new stories from yesterday:
Grenfell Tower and its future
A leak that the government was intending to knock down Grenfell tower and
have it demolished without consulting families of victims and residents. This
was seen as a betrayal of a promise. Michael Gove has apologised for the
leak and says the tower won’t necessarily be demolished.
It highlights how there can be multiple and large victims involved where often
they have different ideas and feelings of what they want. It can be difficult to
get an agreement that meets and satisfies the needs of all victims.
Public inquiry into ‘mother and baby homes’ in Ireland
These homes operated throughout the 20 th century.
Pregnant woman who were not married were sent to these homes and were
mistreated and worked in exploitative ways.
Their babies were taken away from them and sent to orphanages.
Some victims who were interviewed talked about hoping to get answers –
they wanted to know who their parents were, who their siblings were etc.
This story links in with another story – the homes for indigenous children in
Canada where they were placed in these homes to integrate and adopt a
white Canadian culture.
Documentary: Uncovering Canada’s Buried Past
