Theories of Victimology

Transcription

1 Theories of Victimology Definitions - Binary: o Victim blamers victims might share the responsibility with offender if facilitation, precipitation or provocation of the event occurred. E.g. if you re on the phone in a well-known place and say you re about to withdraw $5000 and then go to McDonalds. o Victim defenders it is not fair to hold a wounded party accountable to some degree for losses or injuries that occurred. E.g. they would say that anyone should be able to wave around $5000 and not expect to become a victim. - Shared responsibility: o Facilitation victims unknowingly, carelessly, negligently and inadvertently make it easier for offender to commit a theft. E.g. you told them you were going to McDonalds with $5000 cash. o Precipitation victim significantly contributes to the event. E.g. shouting into the phone that you re about to walk to your unlocked car with $5000 cash. o Provocation more responsible than perpetrator for the fight that ensued. Goaded, challenged or incited a generally law-abiding citizen into taking defensive action. E.g. assault and robbery because you loudly said you were walking to your unlocked car with $5000 cash. Frameworks Positivist criminology: o Finding the causal conditions for criminal behaviour and thus assumes that the presence of these conditions makes the criminal different in some way from the law-abiding members of society. Victimology deals with measurement of the amount of victimisation, the development of typologies of victimisation, explanations of why some people are more prone to it than others, and the relationship between criminal and victim which may indicate the ways in which victims may precipitate crime. Conservative criminology: o Crime attributed to choice/pathology rather than the structural inequalities of society. Radical criminology/marxist: o Focus on the importance of the intuition of the state and it s representatives in defining and sanctioning certain forms of behaviour at certain points in time, Left-realist criminology reflect the reality of crime (origins, nature and impact). Feminist criminology: o Develops a critique of the institution of patriarchy (male power over women).

2 Critical criminology: o Concerned to document victims lived realities. Theorists - Von Hentig (40s): o Theory of victimisation. o Identified victims by examining various risk factors. - Mendelsohn (50s): o The Penal-Couple. o Interpersonal relationship between the offender and the victim. - Schafer (60s): o Classified victims according to their responsibility instead of risk factors. o Moved towards victim blaming. - Karmen (00s): o Discusses the development of Victimology and points out that victimologists view the dynamics of the victim s role in society from a multidisciplinary perspective. Victim precipitation theory - First identified by Wolfgang looked at homicide (and aggravated assault that led to homicide). o Primary study of the nature of homicide. o Victim precipitation. o Studied victims and offenders as separate entities but also as mutual participants in the homicide. - The victim was usually the first to slap, punch or stab. - The prevalence of victim precipitation in murder and assault is contrary to the popular image that victims are totally innocent. - Interpersonal dispute is a dominant characteristic of many homicides. o They were engaging in some way before (insults, etc) and somehow the victim had precipitated it and the victim status was then imposed on them. - Five stages of escalation (typical homicide): o Victim makes a direct offensive verbal attack against the offender (suggestion that 40% of victims initiate the homicide by verbal threat). o The offender interprets the victim s words and deeds as offensive. o The offender makes creates situation to get even with the victim for the previous insult. o The eventual victim responds to the offender s opening with increased hostility. o Commitment to battles ensues, the victim is left dead or dying (some 35% of offenders carry gun or knives, and nearly 65% leave the crime scene to obtain weapons). Amir: on rape - Analysis of police records on rape incidents in Philadelphia. - Findings: some 19% of all forcible rapes were victim-precipitated.

3 - Factors included: o Alcohol. o Seductive actions. o Wearing revealing clothing. o Using risqué language. o Reputation. - Offender s interpretation of actions is what was important not what victim actually did. - Victim behavior and the situation which surrounds the encounter will determine the course of events leasing to the crime. - Victim behaviour. - Act of commission. o She agreed a drink or ride. - Omission. o She failed to react strongly enough to sexual suggestions. Passive precipitation versus situated transaction Passive precipitation. Situated transaction. - Occurs when the victim exhibits some personal characteristic - David Luckenbill o To explain victimization that either threatens, or encourages the attacker; may be unconscious. - Violent victimisation; in particular, homicides and physical assaults - Related to power: - Emerged from a pattern of - Group of immigrants arriving to interaction (a transaction) the community and compete for job. - Rarely immediate o Protection of honour. - Job/Promotion. - Love interest. Lifestyle-exposure theory - Victimisation is the function of the victim s lifestyle. - Going out in public places late at night, living in urban areas. - High-risk lifestyles: o Drinking. o Taking drugs. o Getting involved in crime. o Leaving residence for a long time period. - How to decrease your own victimisation: o Micro-level theory: Situated, empirical. o Different groups may have different high risk lifestyles or more, depending on what group they are. o Variations in lifestyle affect numerous situations with high victimisation risks that an individual may experience: People associated with. Working outside of the home. Leisure activities.

4 o Someone who has drug dealer as friend may be more likely to be victimised than someone with community spirited prosocial friends. Empirical test findings - Homes that are well-guarded are less likely to be burgled. - People who stay out late and drink heavily are more likely to be crime victims. - Schwartz and Pitts (1995): study of women at Ohio University. o Hypothesis testing: o Women who goes out drinking more often? (suitable target/absence of guardianship). o Women who are friends of motivated offenders? (ie. Men who get women drunk for purpose of having sex). - Night-time and weekends are the peak times for most violent crimes, property offences, and public order violations. - Darkness is a criminogenic condition (fewer people are around, higher rates of drug and alcohol use, greater anonymity). - Dangerousness of particular physical locations changes according to crimes. - Victims homes (murder, assault, sexual offenses). - Streets around victim s homes and deserted areas near car parks and entertainment establishments (robbers and car thieves). Routine activity theory - Opportunity makes the thief. - When a crime occurs, three things happen at the same time and in the same space: o A suitable target is available.

5 o The lack of a suitable guardian to prevent the crime from happening. o A motivated offender is present. - A suitable target: o Value - the offenders value the target for what they gain or value the effect they have on it Eg. a burglary because the burglar wants the stolen items. o Inertia - the size or weight of an item can effect how suitable it is. Eg. items such as CDs and watches are small and portable. o Visibility - how visible a target is can affect its suitability. Eg. Spray painting a dark alley. o Access - if a target is easy to get to, this increases its suitability. Eg. Someone walking through a deserted street alone at night is accessible. - Absence of a capable guardian: o A capable guardian is anything, either a person or thing, that discourages crime from taking place. o Police patrols, security guards, Neighbourhood Watch schemes, locks, fences, barriers, lighting, alarm systems, vigilant staff and coworkers, friends. o A guardian can be present, but ineffective. Eg. a CCTV camera is not a capable guardian if it is set up or sited wrongly. o Staff might be present in a shop, but may not have sufficient training or awareness to be an effective deterrent. - Motivated offender: o Gain/Need - poverty, to feed a drug habit, greed. o Society/Experience/Environment - living in a culture where crime is acceptable, because of peer pressure, coercion, lack of education, poor employment prospects, envy, as a rebellion against authority. o Beliefs - a belief that crime in general or particular crimes are not wrong, as a protest on a matter of principle, prejudice against certain minority/ethnic groups. Critical Victimology - Key question: o Who has the power to apply the label and what considerations are significant in that determination? - Epistemology, methodology and political agenda. o An empirically based, rational and objective science but the realist requires the postulating of types of unobservable entities and processes that are unfamiliar to us. o Problem: Victimology has been overly political. o Focus on certain activities: ask, why? And draw attention towards the forgotten. Victimisation - As a function of opportunity (at various levels).

6 - As a function of social interactional dynamics between victim and offender. - As a function of deep social division in terms of power and control. o Not about apportioning blame. o Duality (at least) of process. o Understand power and control processes.