Samenvatting Victimology
LES 1 Introduction, origin, and concepts
1. Victimology Past, Present And Future
It was not until after the Second World War that the scientific study of crime
victims emerged as an essential complement to criminology's well established
research on offenders.
1.1. Introduction
Victimology is a young, developing discipline which emerged in the second half of
the 20th century
All these things are in some countries advanced and accepted and in others
undeveloped/ non-existent, or frowned upon
- Although victim legislation is quite developed in some countries, it is non-
existent in most
- Victim assistance programs have flourished in some societies, but are still
unheard of in many parts of the world.
- Victimization surveys have been conducted on a regular basis in some places
and are conspicuous absent in others.
- Victimological therapy is being encouraged and practiced in some cultures
but is frowned upon in others.
- Courses and seminars in victimology have been in existence for several
decades in some universities but have been totally lacking in others.
1.2. Victimology’s past
1.2.1. A brief history of victimology
Early victimological notions were not developed by criminologists or sociologists,
but rather by poets, writers, and novelists.
The first systematic treatment of victims of crime appeared in 1948 in Hans Von
Hentig's book The Criminal and His Victim.
- Von Hentig criticized the static unidimensional study of the offender that
had dominated criminology until then. In its place he suggested a new
dynamic and dyadic approach that pays equal attention to the criminal and
the victim.
- “The law 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.”
- Von Hentig insisted that many crime victims contribute to their own
victimization, either by inciting or provoking the criminal or by creating
or fostering a situation likely to lead to the commission of the crime.
,Other pioneers in victimology, who firmly believed that victims may consciously
or unconsciously play a causal role, outlined many of the forms this contributions
can take: negligence, carelessness, recklessness, imprudence, and so forth. They
pointed out that the victim's role could be a motivational one (attracting,
arousing, inducing, inciting, enticing) or a functional one (provoking,
precipitating, triggering, facilitating, participating)
The term victimology was coined in 1949 by an American psychiatrist, Frederick
Wertham, who used it for the first time in his book The Show of Violence, in
which he stressed the need for a science of VICTIMOLOGY. During the early
years of victimology, literature on crime victims remained relatively small when
compared to that on criminology.
During the 1980s, however, a great wave of important books and articles
marked the coming of age of victimology.
At present the study of crime victims has become an integral part of
criminology
Today, the need for criminology to thoroughly study the victims of crime may
appear obvious and axiomatic. It may seem surprising, therefore, that such an
obvious need has escaped the attention of criminologists for over a century. But it
is not rare for social scientists to miss the obvious. This point is well made by
Rock (1994) who points out:
- Even criminology and the sociology of deviance -- disciplines concentrated
most squarely on the analysis of crime, criminals and criminal justice --
tended somehow to obliterate the victim for a very long while, failing to see
what, in retrospect, should probably have been evident all along. Such
omissions occur continually. They are an ineluctable part of any discipline, a
consequence of the truth marked by Burke when he said that 'a way of
seeing is always a way of not seeing.' The price of organising, specialising
and accumulating knowledge about any area is a systematic neglect of the
other matters thrown out of focus and beyond the margins. Precisely
because criminology is an empirically-driven discipline, it has tended to
ignore those things that do not bear the name of crime, criminals and
criminal justice
Although victimology has by now firmly established itself as a major research
area within criminology, its nature, importance and standing continue to generate
controversy.
- Rock (1994) describes victimology as a 'relatively amorphous discipline'.
- At the Fifth International Symposium on Victimology, Cressey openly
declared that victimology is neither a scientific discipline nor an academic
field. He called it instead 'a non-academic program under which a
hodgepodge of ideas, interests, ideologies and research methods have been
rather arbitrarily grouped.
Be that as it may, the study of victims and victimization has the potential of
reshaping the entire discipline of criminology. It might very well be the long
awaited paradigm shift that criminology desperately needs given the dismal
failure of its traditional paradigms: search for causes of crime, deterrence,
rehabilitation, treatment, just deserts, etc.
,1.2.2. Recent developments in Victimology
1.2.2.1. From micro victimology to macro victimology
In the 1970s individual studies of the victims of specific crimes, popular in the
early stages of victimology, were overshadowed by large scale victimization
surveys which transformed the micro approach into a macro approach.
- The primary purpose of these surveys was to determine the volume of
victimization, to identify the victim population, and to establish the socio-
demographic characteristics of crime victims.
- While this macro approach proved to be quite useful to the study of trends
and patterns in victimization, and to the analysis of the social and spatial
distribution of some types of crime, it revealed very little about the social
and personal settings in which these crimes took place.
o It was of limited value in understanding the psycho- and sociodynamics
of criminal behaviour, the process of victim selection, victim-offender
interactions, the victim's dynamic role in various crimes, and so forth.
1.2.2.2. From theoretical victimology to applied victimology
In the last twenty-five years, victimology has undergone a major transformation.
Early victimology was mainly theoretical, concerned almost exclusively with
causal explanations of crime and the victim's role in those explanations.
- It focused mainly on characteristics of victims, their relationships and
interactions with their victimizers, and the analysis of victim behaviour
as a situational variable, as a triggering, actualizing or precipitating
factor.
- This theoretical framework, proposed by Von Hentig, guided the pioneering
research carried out by Ellenberger, Wolfgang, Amir, Normandeau,
Curtis, Silverman, and Fattah among others.
- Concern for crime victims could be found primarily in the modest state
compensation programs to victims of crime that were set up in some
countries such as New Zealand, England, Canada and the US.
- The rediscovery of crime victims, spearheaded by the feminist movement, a
movement that championed the cause of victims of rape, sexual assault and
domestic violence, generated a great deal of empathy and sympathy for a
largely disenfranchised group
Theoretical victimology became the object of unwarranted attacks and
unfounded ideological criticism. It was portrayed by some as the 'art of blaming
the victim'.
A new focus for victimology was taking shape: helping and assisting crime
victims, alleviating their plight and affirming their rights. A political movement
was born and victimology became increasingly defined and recognized through
its applied component. Victimology meetings mirrored the transformation of
victimology from an academic discipline into a humanistic movement, the
shift from scholarly research to political activism.
, - These meetings were often turned into platforms for advocacy on behalf of
victims.
- Implications of this transformation: need to refocus the notion of criminality
on conventional crimes that had a direct, immediate, tangible victim.
o White-collar crime, corporate action causing grievous social harm,
whether legally defined as crimes or not, were once again relegated to
the background.
- The metamorphosis also had a negative impact on criminal policy. It helped
reinforce primitive vengeful reactions to crime and provided much needed
ammunition to conservative politicians, thus enabling them to implement
their punitive agenda.
1.3. Victimology today VANAF HIER
Victimology today is very different from victimology in the 1950s or the 1960s.
Scientific disciplines undergo constant evolution, though the pace of change may
vary from one discipline to another.
Victimology has undergone not only a rapid but also a rather fundamental
evolution in the decades of the 1980s and 199 could easily be described as a
period of consolidation, data gathering and theorization, with new legislation,
victim compensation, redress and mediation, and assistance and support to
enable victims to recover from the negative effects of victimization
1.3.1. Consolidation
In the last few years the discipline of victimology has firmly become established
on the academic scene.
- There has been a substantial increase in the number of universities and
colleges offering courses in victimology and related subjects.
- Numerous books and articles have been published in different languages
- An International Review of Victimology, in English, was put out by AB
Academic Publishers in Britain.
- A number of national and regional societies of victimology have been
established.
Japan has been a leader in this respect, the victimologist Professor Koichi
Miyazawa
The World Society of Victimology continues to hold its international symposia
once every three years. The last one, the ninth in the series, was held in
Amsterdam in August 1997 and drew a record number of participants.
The development and spread of victimology is being facilitated by the extensive
coverage crime news and victim issues are receiving in the mass media, by the
wide publicity victims' programs are getting and by the proliferation of victim
services and victim assistance programs in many countries
LES 1 Introduction, origin, and concepts
1. Victimology Past, Present And Future
It was not until after the Second World War that the scientific study of crime
victims emerged as an essential complement to criminology's well established
research on offenders.
1.1. Introduction
Victimology is a young, developing discipline which emerged in the second half of
the 20th century
All these things are in some countries advanced and accepted and in others
undeveloped/ non-existent, or frowned upon
- Although victim legislation is quite developed in some countries, it is non-
existent in most
- Victim assistance programs have flourished in some societies, but are still
unheard of in many parts of the world.
- Victimization surveys have been conducted on a regular basis in some places
and are conspicuous absent in others.
- Victimological therapy is being encouraged and practiced in some cultures
but is frowned upon in others.
- Courses and seminars in victimology have been in existence for several
decades in some universities but have been totally lacking in others.
1.2. Victimology’s past
1.2.1. A brief history of victimology
Early victimological notions were not developed by criminologists or sociologists,
but rather by poets, writers, and novelists.
The first systematic treatment of victims of crime appeared in 1948 in Hans Von
Hentig's book The Criminal and His Victim.
- Von Hentig criticized the static unidimensional study of the offender that
had dominated criminology until then. In its place he suggested a new
dynamic and dyadic approach that pays equal attention to the criminal and
the victim.
- “The law 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.”
- Von Hentig insisted that many crime victims contribute to their own
victimization, either by inciting or provoking the criminal or by creating
or fostering a situation likely to lead to the commission of the crime.
,Other pioneers in victimology, who firmly believed that victims may consciously
or unconsciously play a causal role, outlined many of the forms this contributions
can take: negligence, carelessness, recklessness, imprudence, and so forth. They
pointed out that the victim's role could be a motivational one (attracting,
arousing, inducing, inciting, enticing) or a functional one (provoking,
precipitating, triggering, facilitating, participating)
The term victimology was coined in 1949 by an American psychiatrist, Frederick
Wertham, who used it for the first time in his book The Show of Violence, in
which he stressed the need for a science of VICTIMOLOGY. During the early
years of victimology, literature on crime victims remained relatively small when
compared to that on criminology.
During the 1980s, however, a great wave of important books and articles
marked the coming of age of victimology.
At present the study of crime victims has become an integral part of
criminology
Today, the need for criminology to thoroughly study the victims of crime may
appear obvious and axiomatic. It may seem surprising, therefore, that such an
obvious need has escaped the attention of criminologists for over a century. But it
is not rare for social scientists to miss the obvious. This point is well made by
Rock (1994) who points out:
- Even criminology and the sociology of deviance -- disciplines concentrated
most squarely on the analysis of crime, criminals and criminal justice --
tended somehow to obliterate the victim for a very long while, failing to see
what, in retrospect, should probably have been evident all along. Such
omissions occur continually. They are an ineluctable part of any discipline, a
consequence of the truth marked by Burke when he said that 'a way of
seeing is always a way of not seeing.' The price of organising, specialising
and accumulating knowledge about any area is a systematic neglect of the
other matters thrown out of focus and beyond the margins. Precisely
because criminology is an empirically-driven discipline, it has tended to
ignore those things that do not bear the name of crime, criminals and
criminal justice
Although victimology has by now firmly established itself as a major research
area within criminology, its nature, importance and standing continue to generate
controversy.
- Rock (1994) describes victimology as a 'relatively amorphous discipline'.
- At the Fifth International Symposium on Victimology, Cressey openly
declared that victimology is neither a scientific discipline nor an academic
field. He called it instead 'a non-academic program under which a
hodgepodge of ideas, interests, ideologies and research methods have been
rather arbitrarily grouped.
Be that as it may, the study of victims and victimization has the potential of
reshaping the entire discipline of criminology. It might very well be the long
awaited paradigm shift that criminology desperately needs given the dismal
failure of its traditional paradigms: search for causes of crime, deterrence,
rehabilitation, treatment, just deserts, etc.
,1.2.2. Recent developments in Victimology
1.2.2.1. From micro victimology to macro victimology
In the 1970s individual studies of the victims of specific crimes, popular in the
early stages of victimology, were overshadowed by large scale victimization
surveys which transformed the micro approach into a macro approach.
- The primary purpose of these surveys was to determine the volume of
victimization, to identify the victim population, and to establish the socio-
demographic characteristics of crime victims.
- While this macro approach proved to be quite useful to the study of trends
and patterns in victimization, and to the analysis of the social and spatial
distribution of some types of crime, it revealed very little about the social
and personal settings in which these crimes took place.
o It was of limited value in understanding the psycho- and sociodynamics
of criminal behaviour, the process of victim selection, victim-offender
interactions, the victim's dynamic role in various crimes, and so forth.
1.2.2.2. From theoretical victimology to applied victimology
In the last twenty-five years, victimology has undergone a major transformation.
Early victimology was mainly theoretical, concerned almost exclusively with
causal explanations of crime and the victim's role in those explanations.
- It focused mainly on characteristics of victims, their relationships and
interactions with their victimizers, and the analysis of victim behaviour
as a situational variable, as a triggering, actualizing or precipitating
factor.
- This theoretical framework, proposed by Von Hentig, guided the pioneering
research carried out by Ellenberger, Wolfgang, Amir, Normandeau,
Curtis, Silverman, and Fattah among others.
- Concern for crime victims could be found primarily in the modest state
compensation programs to victims of crime that were set up in some
countries such as New Zealand, England, Canada and the US.
- The rediscovery of crime victims, spearheaded by the feminist movement, a
movement that championed the cause of victims of rape, sexual assault and
domestic violence, generated a great deal of empathy and sympathy for a
largely disenfranchised group
Theoretical victimology became the object of unwarranted attacks and
unfounded ideological criticism. It was portrayed by some as the 'art of blaming
the victim'.
A new focus for victimology was taking shape: helping and assisting crime
victims, alleviating their plight and affirming their rights. A political movement
was born and victimology became increasingly defined and recognized through
its applied component. Victimology meetings mirrored the transformation of
victimology from an academic discipline into a humanistic movement, the
shift from scholarly research to political activism.
, - These meetings were often turned into platforms for advocacy on behalf of
victims.
- Implications of this transformation: need to refocus the notion of criminality
on conventional crimes that had a direct, immediate, tangible victim.
o White-collar crime, corporate action causing grievous social harm,
whether legally defined as crimes or not, were once again relegated to
the background.
- The metamorphosis also had a negative impact on criminal policy. It helped
reinforce primitive vengeful reactions to crime and provided much needed
ammunition to conservative politicians, thus enabling them to implement
their punitive agenda.
1.3. Victimology today VANAF HIER
Victimology today is very different from victimology in the 1950s or the 1960s.
Scientific disciplines undergo constant evolution, though the pace of change may
vary from one discipline to another.
Victimology has undergone not only a rapid but also a rather fundamental
evolution in the decades of the 1980s and 199 could easily be described as a
period of consolidation, data gathering and theorization, with new legislation,
victim compensation, redress and mediation, and assistance and support to
enable victims to recover from the negative effects of victimization
1.3.1. Consolidation
In the last few years the discipline of victimology has firmly become established
on the academic scene.
- There has been a substantial increase in the number of universities and
colleges offering courses in victimology and related subjects.
- Numerous books and articles have been published in different languages
- An International Review of Victimology, in English, was put out by AB
Academic Publishers in Britain.
- A number of national and regional societies of victimology have been
established.
Japan has been a leader in this respect, the victimologist Professor Koichi
Miyazawa
The World Society of Victimology continues to hold its international symposia
once every three years. The last one, the ninth in the series, was held in
Amsterdam in August 1997 and drew a record number of participants.
The development and spread of victimology is being facilitated by the extensive
coverage crime news and victim issues are receiving in the mass media, by the
wide publicity victims' programs are getting and by the proliferation of victim
services and victim assistance programs in many countries
