Victimology Key
terms
The Work of Benjamin
Mendelsohn
Some observers credit Benjamin
Mendelsohn, a practicing attorney, with
being the “father” of victimology. Indeed, he
coined the term victimology.
Mendelsohn discovered that usually there
was a strong interpersonal relationship
between victims and offenders. Analysis it
through data.
Mendelsohn types of
Victims
a criminal- It refers to the traditional subject
matter that victimologists have grown
accustomed to studying.
one's self- Self-victimization would include
suicide, as well as any other suffering induced by
victims themselves.
the social environment-incorporates individual,
class, or group oppression. Some common
examples would include racial discrimination,
caste relations, genocide, and war atrocities.
Technology-These are people who fall prey to
society's reliance upon scientific innovations.
Nuclear accidents, improperly tested medicines,
industrial pollution, and transportation mishaps
“Victim” has it roots in the early religious
notions of suffering, sacrifice and death.
This concept of “victim” was well known in
the ancient civilizations, especially in
Babylonia, Palestine, Greece, and Rome. In
each of these civilizations the law mandated
that the victim should be recognized as a
person who deserved to be made whole
again by the offender.
Key terms
“Crime victim” is a person who has been
physically, financially or emotionally injured
and/or had their property taken or damaged
by someone committing a crime.
“Victimogenesis” refers to the origin or
cause of a victimization; the constellation of
variables which caused a victimization to
occur.
“Victim Precipitation” a victimization
where the victim causes, in part or totally,
their own victimization.
“Victimization” refers to an event where
persons, communities and institutions are
damaged or injured in a significant way.
Those persons who are impacted by
persons or events suffer a violation of rights
or significant disruption of their well-being.
“Victimology” is an academic scientific
discipline which studies data that describes
phenomena and causal relationships related to
victimizations. This includes events leading to
the victimization, the victim's experience, its
aftermath and the actions taken by society in
response to these victimizations. Therefore,
victimology includes the study of the
precursors, vulnerabilities, events, impacts,
recoveries, and responses by people,
organizations and cultures related to
victimizations.
Dignan and Goodey describe victimology
as a new and expanding sub-discipline
within criminology. Dignan states that, while
criminology has concentrated on crime and
criminals, victimology is concerned with
crime and its victims
“Victim Offender Mediation” (VOM) is a
formal process for face-to-face meetings in
the presence of a trained mediator between
a victim of a crime and his/her offender who
committed that crime. This is also called
victim-offender dialogue, victim-offender
conferencing, victim-offender reconciliation,
or restorative justice.
Often the victim and the offender are joined by
their respective families and community
members or other persons related to the crime
event. In these meetings, the offender and the
victim talk to each other about the
victimization, the effects it had on their lives,
and their feelings about it. The aim is to create
a mutually agreeable plan to repair any
damage or injury that occurred as a result of
the crime in the hopes of permanently
eliminating the conflict that caused the crime in
the first place.
“Restorative Justice” is a systematic
formal legal response to crime victimization
that emphasizes healing the injuries that
resulted from the crime and affected the
victims, offenders and communities. This
process is a departure from the traditional
retributive form of dealing with criminals
and victims which traditionally have
generally perpetuated the conflict which
resulted in the original crime.
“Victim Trauma” includes emotional and
physical experiences that produce pain and
injuries. Emotional injury is a normal
response to an extremely abnormal event. It
results from the pairing of a painful or
frightening emotional experience with a
specific memory which emerge and have a
long- lasting effect on the life of a person.
The more direct the exposure to the
traumatic event, the higher the risk for
emotional harm and prolonged effects.
Mendelsohn's Victim Types
Completely Innocent Victim No provocation or facilitating
behavior
Victim with Minor Guilt Victim inadvertently places
himself in a compromising
situation
Victim as Guilty as Offender Victim was engaging in vice
crimes and was hurt; suicide
victim
Victim More Guilty Than Offender Victim provokes or instigates the
causal act
Most Guilty Victim Started off as the offender and
was hurt in turn
Imaginary Victim Those who pretend to be a victim
The Work of Hans von
Hentig:
An early pioneer in victimology was a
German scholar, Hans von Hentig.
The victim was often a contributing cause to
the criminal act.
The Criminal and His Victim-book
Many of von Hentig's victim types reflect
the inability to resist a perpetrator due to
physical, social, or psychological
disadvantages.
Type Example
The Young Children and infants
The Female All women
The Old Elderly persons
The Mentally Defective and The feeble-minded, the insane,
Deranged drug addicts, alcoholics
Immigrants Foreigners unfamiliar with the
culture
Minorities Racially disadvantaged persons
Dull Normals Simple-minded persons
The Depressed The Depressed
The Acquisitive The greedy, those looking for
quick gains
The Wanton Promiscuous persons
The Lonesome and the Widows, widowers, and those in
Heartbroken mourning
The Work of Stephen Schafer:
The Victim and His Criminal
The difference between the two schemes is
primarily one of emphasis on the culpability
of the victim. Where von Hentig's listing
identifies varying risk factors, Schafer
explicitly sets forth the responsibility of
different victims.
Instances in which the victim is simply the
unfortunate target of the offender.
Victims leave themselves open for victimization
by placing themselves in dangerous places or
times, dressing inappropriately, acting, or saying
the wrong things, etc.
The aged, young, infirm, and others who, due to
their physical conditions, are appealing targets
for offenders.
Immigrants, minorities, and others who are not
adequately integrated into society are seen as
easy targets by offenders.
The offender is reacting to some action
or behavior of the victim.
Individuals who are involved in such crimes
as drug use, prostitution, gambling, and
other activities in which the victim and the
criminal act in concert with one another.
Individuals who are victimized because they
oppose those in power or are made victims
in order to be kept in a subservient social
position.
Theories of victimology
Positivist victimology
Hans von Hentig and Benjamin Mendelsohn
Fattah-
developed a ‘routine activity’ approach to explain
‘direct-contact predatory violations involving direct
physical contact between at least one offender and
at least one person or object which that offender
attempts to take or damage. According to this
model, victimisation in predatory offences occurs
when there is a convergence in space and time of
motivated offenders, suitable targets and an
absence of suitable guardians.
Fattah developed the above typologies, and
other similar typologies, into a schema
comprising the following 10 categories
Opportunities: these are linked to the
characteristics and activities of potential
targets.
Risk factors: socio-demographic
characteristics including age, gender, area of
residence or absence of guardianship.
Motivated offenders: the criteria by which
offenders select their victims.
Exposure: exposure to potential offenders and
risk situations enhances the risk of criminal
victimisation.
Associations: people run a greater risk of
victimisation when they have close social or
professional contact with potential
delinquents and criminals.
Dangerous times and dangerous places: times
when risks are greater, such as late night
hours and weekends, and places at greater
risk, such as sites of public entertainment.
Dangerous behaviours: certain behaviour, such as
negligence and carelessness, enhances the chances of
property victimisation while other behaviour, such as
hitchhiking, may put people in dangerous situations.
High-risk activities, such as the pursuit of fun, which
may include deviant and illegal activities, also increase
the potential for victimisation.
Defensive/avoidance behaviours: people who fear crime
are more likely to avoid the risk of victimisation by
staying at home, for instance.
Structural/cultural proneness: people who are powerless
and deprived are more likely to be victims of crime.
Criticism:
Feminists are against this theory
Home is not the safest place for the victims.
