VICTIMOLOGY
LESSON 1: Origin and concepts
1. History
1.1.The origin
Victimology ??
- The scientific study on the extent, nature and causes of (criminal) victimisation, its
consequences for the persons involved and the reactions to it by society, more specifically the
police and the criminal justice system as well as voluntary and welfare workers (WSV).
- Often considered a subdiscipline:
o Psychiatry, law, social work.
Psychiatric is a medical doctor, he can prescribe medicine ITT psychologist can not
prescribe medicine
o However, criminologists have the greatest influence.
o An essential component of offender studies within criminology and thus became an
integral part of criminological sciences.
Dia 5: who is the perfect victim: person D the thug
- Your lifestyle, what you do is going to impact the chance of you becoming a victim
- He meets en needs co-offenders so he gets into the environment of violence
Léopold Szondi: genotropism (1930s). ??
- The theory is that instinct is biological and genetic in origin
- The first talking about victims , first thought about how you become a victim, why you?
- Not everyone has an equal opportunity of becoming a victim
- Theory: reciprocal attraction of similar recessive genes influencing human behavior (instinct).
o Why do we like and dislike certain people? He thought that it had to do with our genes
being attracted to something
o How can certain people be more likely to become victims than others? He thought it
had to do with our genes FAKE NEWS, THEY DO NOT MATTER
Ted Bundy (1946-1989): at least 36 victims in the 1970s. ??
- He confirmed that some persons are more likely to become victims than others
o He only killed women
- Victim selection:
o A matter of opportunity.
o He claimed that he could recognize a victim by the way she walks through the street,
how she holds her head, her posture,...
o Research confirms that victims have certain typical body language, especially the way in
which they walk
o Psychopaths are more accurate in recognizing potential and past victims
First mention of 'victimology' => attention was still paid to the perpetrator ??
- Only after WO II we started thinking about the role of the victim in the establishment of the
crime
- Mendelsohn, 1947: during the presentation of a paper.
o Is seen as the spiritual father of the victim movement.
o It was reflective, not empirical, there was no data
- Werthem (1949) also argues for a "crime victim-centred" science.
o Especially focusing on murder.
1
,First systematic investigation of the victim of a crime by von Hentig. ??
- “The Criminal and his Victim” (1948).
o Deel 4: “The Victim’s contribution to the genesis of the crime”
o Criticism of one-dimensional image within criminology.
is about the share of the SO in the creation of the crime
- “The law considers certain results and the final moves which lead to them. Here it makes a
clear-cut distinction between the one who does and the one who suffers. Looking into the
genesis of the situation, in a considerable number of cases, we meet a victim who consents
tacitly, co-operates, conspires or provokes. The victim is one of the causative elements”
o is about the part of SO in the creation of the crime
o So they saw the victim not as passive or neutral
Number of theoretical studies:
- about victim types, the relationship between victim and perpetrator and the role that victims
play in certain crime phenomena, how victims contribute to crime
Number of empirical studies: ??
- Murder, rape, theft, assault and battery, fraud, extortion,...
- Martin Wolfgang: “victim precipitated criminal homicide” (1957).
o It means the contribution, participation of the victim. Victim is not neutral, but directly
or indirectly has something to do with the occurrence of crime
o He studies 588 murder cases. In 26% of the cases the victim was first to commit
violence.
- Menachem Amir: “Victim precipitated forcible rape” (1967).
o He said we need to be careful with the word ‘victim’ bcs they can be part of the cause of
the crime
o Active 'contribution': accepting a drink from a stranger, riding with a stranger.
o Passive "contribution": not reacting strongly enough to sexual advances.
o Examples: alcohol, "reputation", place of residence, meeting place,...
In the sixties wearing a skirt was considered slutty which contributes to rape
o NO excuse for perpetrator.
- This turns into victim blaming
Victim precipitated = something is done in advance by the victim Intended to find out how a
crime is committed, not to determine who is guilty
Victim precipitation or victim-blaming?
- Especially the 1970s victim precipitation was more and more seen as victim-blaming
VP Victim precipitated research has contributed to 2 important criminological theories:
- Lifestyle theory (Hindelang et al., 1978)
- Routine activities theory (Cohen & Felson, 1979)
The core of these pioneers: victims of crime.
- 1950s-1960s
- Also during the 1970s-1980s through the emergence of professional assistance for victims of
crime.
1979: Founding of the World Society of Victimology WSV ??
2
,1.2. The evolution
Gradual broadening of the research focus during the 1970s. ??
- Researchers looking into: war victims, prisoners in camps and certain types of aggression and
discrimination (Nazism, Apartheid).
- Criminologists study other crimes/phenomena: white-collar crime, environmental crime,...
o Who is the victim here and quid perception?
Also within the WVS there are discussions about the research object of victimology.
- Difference between scientific victimologists and humanistic aid providers .
o Humanistic: also people who have accidents at work are victims and their families
should get aid as well
o Scientific focusses on crime
Division among victimologists: limit to victims of crime or also include other victims?
- See definition of victimology by World Society of Victimology (WSV)
o Different shapes
- Prominent debate in the 1970s-1980s, but largely disappeared in the late 1990s-2000s (see UN
Declaration).
UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power (1985) ??
- victims of crime and misuse of power
- It was unanimously approved in the General Assembly.
- Goal: setting minimum standards that states must meet to accommodate victims, to provide
assistance
- Was a compromise.
o The first part was clear ‘victims of crime’ for the north. But the global south said that
they have been a victim of abuse of power (like colonialism) so they added the second
part victims of abuse of power’.
o Developed countries: victims of crime
o Developing countries: victims of abuse of power must have the same rights as the first
category.
o Many more facilities for the first category than for the second.
o 11. Where public officials or other agents acting in an official or quasi-official capacity
have violated national criminal laws, the victims should receive restitution from the
State whose officials or agents were responsible for the harm inflicted. MOETEN
o 19. States should consider incorporating into the national law norms proscribing abuses
of power and providing remedies to victims of such abuses. OVERWEGEN
Ecocide (from genocide) ??
- Our government wanted to criminalize it as a crime against humanity.
- But Western countries found it against their interest (like agent orange in the Vietnam war
that poisoned a lot of people)
o So we didn’t include it in the convention
1.2.1.From "penal victimology" to general victimology
Penal victimology
- Penal bcs it was connected to law, victims of crime
- Victim of crime is central. Not victims of natural disasters or from administrative law etc.
- Demarcation of victim.
- Bayley 1991: penal victimology
3
, Interactionist victimology ??
1. They have suffered a loss, a significant decrease in well-being unfairly or undeservedly and
in such a manner that they are helpless to prevent the loss
2. The loss has an identifiable cause
3. The legal or moral context of the loss entitles the sufferer of the loss to social concern.
General Victimology = assistance -oriented victimology
- No limitations, no exclusion of damage such as consumer fraud, pollution, work-related
dangers and diseases, police violence, discrimination, poverty and war. We include everything
Human Victimology
- Agree with general victimology, but exclude accidents, natural disasters and "acts of God".
- There must be an identifiable cause. There must be a perpetrator
Yes or no for broadening Victimology ??
- Pro Broadening:
o If victimology works on prevention and improvement of distress, then no restrictions on
type of distress (poverty, HIV,...)².
So you don’t exclude anyone, human suffering is suffering
o Artificial borders lead to priorities: one is worse than the other.
o Follow the broadening of the research focus within criminology
o So also crimes against the species like overfishing of tuna fishing
- Contra broadening
o Loss of objectivity
Abuse of power has an ideological/normative component in it. How do you define
it? What is power? What is abuse of power?
Crime is a reflection of current norms
o Too broad a research domain
You want to look at people, animals, natural disasters, that is way too much
o Too political
See research into victims who abuse law and order politicians.
Law and order politicians want to be harsh, strict, criminalize certain things
o Human victimology: qualitative distinction?
What about work-related incidents?
o Anyone can feel like a victim
1.2.2. From micro to macro victimology ??
Micro: we look to individuals
Macro: we look at big groups that might get victimized with surveys
- Victim surveys become very popular in the 1970s.
- Shift from individual studies of victims of specific crimes to research into the volume of
victimization, the socio-demographic characteristics of victims.
1.2.3. Shift from theoretical to applied victimology 1975-2000 ??
Early victimology looked for causal causes of victimization and explanations of victimization.
In the 1970s, criticism of VP so a new focus arises within victimology.
- Helping and supporting victims.
- Emergence, rise of a political movement, which can be seen in the nature of the research: from
purely academic to humanist movement (political activism).
4
LESSON 1: Origin and concepts
1. History
1.1.The origin
Victimology ??
- The scientific study on the extent, nature and causes of (criminal) victimisation, its
consequences for the persons involved and the reactions to it by society, more specifically the
police and the criminal justice system as well as voluntary and welfare workers (WSV).
- Often considered a subdiscipline:
o Psychiatry, law, social work.
Psychiatric is a medical doctor, he can prescribe medicine ITT psychologist can not
prescribe medicine
o However, criminologists have the greatest influence.
o An essential component of offender studies within criminology and thus became an
integral part of criminological sciences.
Dia 5: who is the perfect victim: person D the thug
- Your lifestyle, what you do is going to impact the chance of you becoming a victim
- He meets en needs co-offenders so he gets into the environment of violence
Léopold Szondi: genotropism (1930s). ??
- The theory is that instinct is biological and genetic in origin
- The first talking about victims , first thought about how you become a victim, why you?
- Not everyone has an equal opportunity of becoming a victim
- Theory: reciprocal attraction of similar recessive genes influencing human behavior (instinct).
o Why do we like and dislike certain people? He thought that it had to do with our genes
being attracted to something
o How can certain people be more likely to become victims than others? He thought it
had to do with our genes FAKE NEWS, THEY DO NOT MATTER
Ted Bundy (1946-1989): at least 36 victims in the 1970s. ??
- He confirmed that some persons are more likely to become victims than others
o He only killed women
- Victim selection:
o A matter of opportunity.
o He claimed that he could recognize a victim by the way she walks through the street,
how she holds her head, her posture,...
o Research confirms that victims have certain typical body language, especially the way in
which they walk
o Psychopaths are more accurate in recognizing potential and past victims
First mention of 'victimology' => attention was still paid to the perpetrator ??
- Only after WO II we started thinking about the role of the victim in the establishment of the
crime
- Mendelsohn, 1947: during the presentation of a paper.
o Is seen as the spiritual father of the victim movement.
o It was reflective, not empirical, there was no data
- Werthem (1949) also argues for a "crime victim-centred" science.
o Especially focusing on murder.
1
,First systematic investigation of the victim of a crime by von Hentig. ??
- “The Criminal and his Victim” (1948).
o Deel 4: “The Victim’s contribution to the genesis of the crime”
o Criticism of one-dimensional image within criminology.
is about the share of the SO in the creation of the crime
- “The law considers certain results and the final moves which lead to them. Here it makes a
clear-cut distinction between the one who does and the one who suffers. Looking into the
genesis of the situation, in a considerable number of cases, we meet a victim who consents
tacitly, co-operates, conspires or provokes. The victim is one of the causative elements”
o is about the part of SO in the creation of the crime
o So they saw the victim not as passive or neutral
Number of theoretical studies:
- about victim types, the relationship between victim and perpetrator and the role that victims
play in certain crime phenomena, how victims contribute to crime
Number of empirical studies: ??
- Murder, rape, theft, assault and battery, fraud, extortion,...
- Martin Wolfgang: “victim precipitated criminal homicide” (1957).
o It means the contribution, participation of the victim. Victim is not neutral, but directly
or indirectly has something to do with the occurrence of crime
o He studies 588 murder cases. In 26% of the cases the victim was first to commit
violence.
- Menachem Amir: “Victim precipitated forcible rape” (1967).
o He said we need to be careful with the word ‘victim’ bcs they can be part of the cause of
the crime
o Active 'contribution': accepting a drink from a stranger, riding with a stranger.
o Passive "contribution": not reacting strongly enough to sexual advances.
o Examples: alcohol, "reputation", place of residence, meeting place,...
In the sixties wearing a skirt was considered slutty which contributes to rape
o NO excuse for perpetrator.
- This turns into victim blaming
Victim precipitated = something is done in advance by the victim Intended to find out how a
crime is committed, not to determine who is guilty
Victim precipitation or victim-blaming?
- Especially the 1970s victim precipitation was more and more seen as victim-blaming
VP Victim precipitated research has contributed to 2 important criminological theories:
- Lifestyle theory (Hindelang et al., 1978)
- Routine activities theory (Cohen & Felson, 1979)
The core of these pioneers: victims of crime.
- 1950s-1960s
- Also during the 1970s-1980s through the emergence of professional assistance for victims of
crime.
1979: Founding of the World Society of Victimology WSV ??
2
,1.2. The evolution
Gradual broadening of the research focus during the 1970s. ??
- Researchers looking into: war victims, prisoners in camps and certain types of aggression and
discrimination (Nazism, Apartheid).
- Criminologists study other crimes/phenomena: white-collar crime, environmental crime,...
o Who is the victim here and quid perception?
Also within the WVS there are discussions about the research object of victimology.
- Difference between scientific victimologists and humanistic aid providers .
o Humanistic: also people who have accidents at work are victims and their families
should get aid as well
o Scientific focusses on crime
Division among victimologists: limit to victims of crime or also include other victims?
- See definition of victimology by World Society of Victimology (WSV)
o Different shapes
- Prominent debate in the 1970s-1980s, but largely disappeared in the late 1990s-2000s (see UN
Declaration).
UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power (1985) ??
- victims of crime and misuse of power
- It was unanimously approved in the General Assembly.
- Goal: setting minimum standards that states must meet to accommodate victims, to provide
assistance
- Was a compromise.
o The first part was clear ‘victims of crime’ for the north. But the global south said that
they have been a victim of abuse of power (like colonialism) so they added the second
part victims of abuse of power’.
o Developed countries: victims of crime
o Developing countries: victims of abuse of power must have the same rights as the first
category.
o Many more facilities for the first category than for the second.
o 11. Where public officials or other agents acting in an official or quasi-official capacity
have violated national criminal laws, the victims should receive restitution from the
State whose officials or agents were responsible for the harm inflicted. MOETEN
o 19. States should consider incorporating into the national law norms proscribing abuses
of power and providing remedies to victims of such abuses. OVERWEGEN
Ecocide (from genocide) ??
- Our government wanted to criminalize it as a crime against humanity.
- But Western countries found it against their interest (like agent orange in the Vietnam war
that poisoned a lot of people)
o So we didn’t include it in the convention
1.2.1.From "penal victimology" to general victimology
Penal victimology
- Penal bcs it was connected to law, victims of crime
- Victim of crime is central. Not victims of natural disasters or from administrative law etc.
- Demarcation of victim.
- Bayley 1991: penal victimology
3
, Interactionist victimology ??
1. They have suffered a loss, a significant decrease in well-being unfairly or undeservedly and
in such a manner that they are helpless to prevent the loss
2. The loss has an identifiable cause
3. The legal or moral context of the loss entitles the sufferer of the loss to social concern.
General Victimology = assistance -oriented victimology
- No limitations, no exclusion of damage such as consumer fraud, pollution, work-related
dangers and diseases, police violence, discrimination, poverty and war. We include everything
Human Victimology
- Agree with general victimology, but exclude accidents, natural disasters and "acts of God".
- There must be an identifiable cause. There must be a perpetrator
Yes or no for broadening Victimology ??
- Pro Broadening:
o If victimology works on prevention and improvement of distress, then no restrictions on
type of distress (poverty, HIV,...)².
So you don’t exclude anyone, human suffering is suffering
o Artificial borders lead to priorities: one is worse than the other.
o Follow the broadening of the research focus within criminology
o So also crimes against the species like overfishing of tuna fishing
- Contra broadening
o Loss of objectivity
Abuse of power has an ideological/normative component in it. How do you define
it? What is power? What is abuse of power?
Crime is a reflection of current norms
o Too broad a research domain
You want to look at people, animals, natural disasters, that is way too much
o Too political
See research into victims who abuse law and order politicians.
Law and order politicians want to be harsh, strict, criminalize certain things
o Human victimology: qualitative distinction?
What about work-related incidents?
o Anyone can feel like a victim
1.2.2. From micro to macro victimology ??
Micro: we look to individuals
Macro: we look at big groups that might get victimized with surveys
- Victim surveys become very popular in the 1970s.
- Shift from individual studies of victims of specific crimes to research into the volume of
victimization, the socio-demographic characteristics of victims.
1.2.3. Shift from theoretical to applied victimology 1975-2000 ??
Early victimology looked for causal causes of victimization and explanations of victimization.
In the 1970s, criticism of VP so a new focus arises within victimology.
- Helping and supporting victims.
- Emergence, rise of a political movement, which can be seen in the nature of the research: from
purely academic to humanist movement (political activism).
4
