FORENSIC

VICTIMOLOGY
Introduction to victimology

Definition of victimology:
the scientific study of victims and victimization,
including the relationships between victims
and offender, investigators, courts, corrections,
media, and social movements.
Introduction to victimology
Definition of Victim:
used in the modern criminal justice system to
describe any person who has experienced loss,
injury, or hardship due to the illegal action of
another individual, group, or organization.
Victima: a Latin word used to refer to those
who were sacrificed to please a god.
Introduction to victimology
General victimology: the study of victimity in the broadest sense, including
those that have been harmed by accidents, natural disasters, war, and so on.
Types of victims (e.g. primary, secondary,
tertiary)
• Primary victims are those who are directly harmed by the crime
• Secondary victims are those who are affected by the crime but are not
the primary targets
Types of victims (e.g. primary, secondary, tertiary)
• Tertiary victims are those who are indirectly affected by the crime, such
as family members or witnesses
Forensic victimology
Forensic victimology: the study of violent crime victims for the purposes of
addressing investigative and forensic questions. It involves the accurate,
critical, and objective outlining of a victim’s lifestyles and circumstances, the
events leading up to an injury, and the precise nature of any harm or loss
suffered.
• how they came to be victimised,
• how the crime took place, and
• their relationship with the offender.
Forensic victimology
Forensic victimology is an applied discipline as opposed to a theoretical one.

Usually, forensic victimologists serve investigations and court proceedings by

endeavoring to
1 . Assist with contextualizing allegations of victimization;
2 . Help support or refute allegations of victimization;
3 . Help establish the nature of victim exposure to harm or loss;
4 . Assist with the development of offender modus operandi and motive;
5 . Help establish an investigative suspect pool;
6 . Assist with the investigative linkage of unsolved cases.
Forensic victimology
Philosophy: victim facts are preferable to victim fictions.

Scientific method: a way to investigate how or why something works or how

something happened through the development of hypotheses and subsequent attempts
at falsification through testing and other accepted means.

In the investigative realm, forensic victimology provides for the consistent

recognition, collection, preservation, and documentation of victim evidence.
Questions are asked, context is established, and history is documented.
Helps deciding whether and how criminal charges and civil liabilities may be
appropriate.
History of victimology
The golden age: in victimology, the era thought to have occurred before
written law, where victims played a direct role in determining the punishment
for actions of another committed against them or their property.
• Retribution as a resolution for criminal matters;
• Blood feuds impact in other individuals (women and children) or
following generations;
• Abuse of the power of accusation.
Before and throughout the Middle Ages…
• Before and throughout the Middle Ages, the • Restitution and retribution played key roles in
burden of the justice system fell on the victim. dealing with criminals.

• The justice system operated under the • Criminals were expected to pay back the
principle of lex talionis - an eye for an eye. victim through restitution.

• Crimes were considered a harm against the • Early criminal codes emphasized equity
victim, not the state. between the offender and victim.

• Retaliation was the common method to seek • Compensation was often required returning
justice. stolen items and providing additional
compensation.
History of victimology
The Dark Age: in victimology, the era after the emergence of written laws and
structured governments, where all offenses were viewed as perpetrated against
the king or state, not against the victims or their family.
The criminal justice systems seek to:
1. separate criminals from society;
2. deter others from acting criminally via ever-harsher punishment;
3. victim was effectively excluded from the formal aspects of the justice
system.
Victim as a witness seek remedy for the harms they suffer in civil court.
History of victimology
Reemergence of the victim: the era in the middle of the twentieth century,
when a small number of people began to recognize that those who were most
affected by criminal acts were rarely involved in the criminal justice process.
This led to the realization that victims were also being overlooked as a source
of information about crime and criminals.
Instead, scholars and others became preoccupied with how the
crime victim contributes to his or her own victimization.

In this way, the damage that offenders cause was ignored.

The role of the victim in crime: precipitation, facilitation,
and provocation (mid-1900s by several scholars)

Victim precipitation
The extent to which a victim is responsible for his or her own victimization.
In this way, victim precipitation acknowledges that crime victimization involves
at least two people—an offender and a victim—and that both parties are acting
and often reacting before, during, and after the incident.

Identifying victim precipitation does not necessarily lead to negative out-

comes. It is problematic, however, when it is used to blame the victim while
ignoring the offender’s role.
 The role of the victim in crime
Victim facilitation:
When a victim unintentionally makes it easier for an offender to commit a
crime.
A woman who accidentally left her purse in plain view in her office while she went to
the restroom and then had it stolen would be a victim who facilitated her own
victimization.
It helps understand why one person may be victimized over another but does
not connote blame and responsibility.
The role of the victim in crime

Victim provocation
When a person does something that incites another person to commit an
illegal act. Provocation suggests that without the victim’s behavior, the crime
would not have occurred. Provocation, then, most certainly connotes blame.
In fact, the offender is not at all responsible.
If a person attempted to mug a man who was walking home from work and the man,
instead of willingly giving the offender his wallet, pulled out a gun and shot the mugger.
The offender in this scenario ultimately is a victim, but he would not have been shot if
not for attempting to mug the shooter.
Degree of victim’s responsibility in crime
1 . Victim Provocation (Strong responsibility – Instigation)
A woman who has suffered years of abuse stabs and kills her husband in selfdefense as
he is beating her again.
2. Precipitation (Significant contribution of the V.)
Victim using the services of a prostitute leaves his wallet on the bed stand and leaves.
She decides to keep the money in her wallet.
3. Facilitation (Creating an opportunity for crime - Certain degree of negligence)
Leaving the keys in the front door
4. Innocent victim (No responsibility)
A sex offender kidnaps a screaming young girl from a playground and molests her.
Degree of victim’s responsibility in crime

COMPLETE FULL
FACILITATION PRECIPITATION PROVOCATION
INNOCENCE RESPONSABILITY

CANNOT VICTIM
BE DESERVED
BLAMED IT
Hans von Hentig (1948)
• Young • Immigrants • Mentally defective
• Females • Minorities
• Old • Dull normals They do not recognize or
Their social status and inability to appropriately respond to threats in
Ignorance or risk taking the environment.
activate assistance in the
community.

• Lonesome or heartbroken • Tormentors • Blocked, exempted, and fighting

They do not recognize danger They provoke their own T h e y m a k e poor decisions and are
because of their mental state victimization via violence and unable to defend themselves or seek
aggression toward others. assistance if victimized.
Benjamin Mendelsohn (1940)
1. Completely innocent victim: a victim who bears no responsibility at all for
victimization; victimized simply because of his or her nature, such as being a child
2. Victim with minor guilt: a victim who is victimized due to ignorance; a victim who
inadvertently places himself or herself in harm’s way
3. Victim as guilty as offender/voluntary victim: a victim who bears as much
responsibility as the offender; a person who, for example, enters into a suicide pact
4. Victim more guilty than offender: a victim who instigates or provokes his or her
own victimization
5. Most guilty victim: a victim who is victimized during the perpetration of a crime or
as a result of crime
6. Simulating or imaginary victim: a victim who is not victimized at all but, instead,
fabricates a victimization event
Stephen Schafer, PhD, 1968)
Types of victims
1 . Unrelated victims (no victim responsibility)
2 . Provocative victims (victim shares responsibility)
3 . Precipitative victims (some degree of responsibility)
4 . Biologically weak victims (no responsibility)
5 . Socially weak victims (no responsibility)
6 . Self-victimizing (total victim responsibility)
7 . Political victims (no responsibility)
History of victimology
The victims’ rights movement:
Women’s movement.
In recognition that victimizations such as sexual assault and domestic violence
were a by-product of sexism, traditional sex roles.
Closely connected to the women’s movement was the push toward giving
children rights.
• Victimization often entails emotional and mental harm, even in the absence of physical
injury. To address this harm, counseling for victims was advocated.
• Criminal justice does not help rebuilding their lives; thus, additional victimization by
the criminal justice system could be avoided.
• Importance of volunteers and social services.
History of victimology
Civil rights movement: how minorities were mistreated by the criminal justice
system, both as offenders and victims.
Early Programs for Crime Victims
Development of Victim Organizations
Legislation and Policy
Victimology today

Victimization theories: Lifestyle theory

Victimization theories: Lifestyle theory
Lifestyle factors and choices can influence the level of exposure to
victimization.
This, in turn, has an influence on the subsequent dynamics of victimization.
A victim’s lifestyle exposure to violence and victimization is related to the
frequency of exposure to potentially harmful elements in his/her usual
environment, his/her personal traits, as well as his/her past choices.
Assessing lifestyle exposure to different forms of victimization requires an
investigation and assessment of the victim’s personality, and his/her
environment (private, professional, and social environment).
Victimization theories: Lifestyle theory
Lifestyle exposure to victimization is related to:

1. PROFESSION (attorneys, police, prostitutes, drug dealers, etc.)

2. PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS (drug addiction, alcoholism, mental
disorders)
3. PERSONALITY TRAITS (aggressiveness, impulsivity, selfdestructive
behaviour, passivity, low self-esteem, aberrant sexual behaviour)
Victimization theories: Victim Situational
Exposure
Victim situational exposure is the amount of actual exposure or
vulnerability experienced by the victim to harm, resulting from their
environment and personal traits, at the time of victimization.

This is distinct from lifestyle exposure, which refers to harmful events that
exist, generally in a victim’s everyday life.
Victimization theories: Victim Situational
Exposure
Notable Situational Factors:
Time of occurrence
Location of occurrence
Proximity to criminal activity
Proximity to criminal activity, violent or aggressive individuals
Number of potential victims
Availability of weapons
Care and supervision
Victim state of mind/perception
Drug and alcohol use
Engaging in violent of aggressive behavior
Victimization theories: Victim Situational
Exposure
Interpreting Situational Exposure:
Low situational exposure victims
Those who are exposed to little or no actual harm or loss immediately prior to
victimization.
Medium situational exposure victims
Those who are somewhat exposed to the possibility of suffering harm or loss
immediately prior to victimization.
High situational exposure victims
Those who are routinely exposed to the possibility of suffering harm or loss.
Extreme situational exposure describes the state of being a victim.
Social representation of victims
The ideal victim (Christie, 1986)
The 'ideal' victim is the one generating the most sympathy from society.
In some cultures, the ideal victim would be the little old lady on her way
home at midday after caring for her sick sister, hit on the head by a big man
who grabs her purse and uses the money to buy drugs.
In contrast, a victim far from society's ideal would be a young man in a bar
hit by an acquaintance.
Social representation of victims
The ideal victim is
• INNOCENT
• VULNERABLE (physically and socioeconomically)
• READY TO FORGIVE , etc.
…”forgiving, not punitive, more interested in compensation than
punishment, and symbolic compensation at that, part of the same
community as the offender, not afraid of the offender, wanting and capable
of full participation in the case’ (Pemberton, Winkel and Groenhuijsen,
2007: 5).
Social representation of victims
The concept of ideal victim is a stereotype, and therefore it might influence
social perceptions on victims and affect the way they are treated in the
media and in the justice system.
The personal characteristics of the victim and the offender and the
circumstances surroundings the crime, have strong influences on the degree
to which society sympathizes with victims and gives them legitimate status as
victims.

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Impact of victimization
Physical and emotional effects of victimization
After the crime, victims may suffer a range of physical effects including
insomnia, appetite disturbance, lethargy, headaches, muscle tension,
nausea, and decreased libido. It is common for these reactions to persist
for some time after the crime has occurred.
Impact of victimization
Financial and social effects of victimization
The financial consequences of victimization, costs associated with real or
threatened criminal harm to an individual, are many and include medical
expenses, costs associated with litigation, counseling costs, and lost
income due to the inability to work or be as productive as before the
crime took place.
Impact of victimization
Coping mechanisms and resilience
Positive Coping Strategies

Information seeking
Self-comparison/emphasizing the positive aspects of surviving
Social comparison
Activities to regain control
Activism
Time to heal
Emotion-focused coping Getting support
Impact of victimization
Coping mechanisms and resilience
Negative Coping Strategies

Avoiding reminders of the crime

Behavioral avoidance - Use of drugs/alcohol
Denial and self-deception – blocking memories
Dissociation - break in a person’s normal way of thinking
Obsessing about the crime
Self-harm