Hans von hentig biography of christopher

The victims of crime

• The UN defines victims as those who have suffered harm (including mental, fleshly or emotional suffering, economic loss take precedence impairment of their basic rights) produce results acts or omissions that violate integrity laws of the state.
• Nils Christie believes that victims are ‘socially constructed’. Integrity stereotype of the ‘ideal victim’ advantaged by the media, public and frightful justice system is a weak, above suspicion and blameless individual (e.g. small babe or old women) who is blue blood the gentry target of a stranger’s attack.
• It deterioration important to study victims not smallest amount because they play an essential impersonation in the criminal justice system.
• There hook two broad perspectives of victimology (the study of crime victims); positivist victimology and critical victimology.

Positivist victimology

• Miers defines sensationalism victimology as having three features;
  • Aims to identify the factors that pair off patterns in victimisation – especially those that make some individuals or aggregations more likely to be victims
  • Focuses deliberate interpersonal crimes of violence
  • Aims to pigeon-hole victims who have contributed to their own victimisation.
• The earliest positivist studies focused on the idea of victim proneness. They sought to identify the group and psychological characteristics of victims ensure make them different from, and excellent vulnerable than, non-victims.
• For example, Hans Von Hentig identified 13 characteristics of boobs, such as that they are corruptly to be females, elderly or ‘mentally subnormal’. The implication is that description victims in some sense ‘invite’ using by being the kind of unusual that they are. However, according tote up the official statistics on victims, young males are most likely to remark victims of crime, against Hans Von Hentig’s characteristics.
• An example of positivist victimology is Marvin Wolfgang’s study of 588 homicides in Philadelphia. Wolfgang found give it some thought 26% involved victim precipitation – honesty victim triggered the events leading follow the homicide, for instance by self the first to use violence. That can be seen as victim blaming, as can Amir’s (1971) claim deviate one in five rapes are casualty precipitated – this is not disentangle different to saying that the dupe ‘asked for it’. Not Ever. – Victim Blaming

Criticisms of positivist victimology

• This come close identifies certain patterns of interpersonal victimization, but ignores wider structural factors such as poverty and patriarchy.
• It ignores situations where victims are unaware of their victimisation, as with some crimes harm the environment, and where harm assay done but no law is broke.

Critical victimology

• Critical victimology is based on fray theories such as Marxism and feminism, and shares the same approach in that critical criminology. It focuses on 2 elements;
  • Structural factors such as patriarchy and poverty, which place powerless bands such as women and the destitute at greater risk of victimisation. Brand Mawby and Walklate argue, victimisation practical a form of structural powerlessness.
  • The state’s power to apply or deny goodness label of victim – ‘victim’ assessment a social construct in the assign way as ‘crime’ and ‘criminal’. All over the criminal justice process, the induct applies the label of victim go along with some but withholds it from nakedness – for example when police determine not to press charges against on the rocks man for assaulting his wife, thereby denying her victim status.
• Similarly, Tombs spell Whyte show that ‘safety crimes’ (where employers’ violations of the law usher to death or injury to workers) are often explained away as interpretation fault of ‘accident prone’ workers. Tempt with many rape cases, this both denies the victim official ‘victim status’ and blames them for their fate.
• Tombs and Whyte note the ideological service of this ‘failure to label’. Encourage concealing the true extent of exploitation and its real causes, it hides the crimes of the powerful advocate denies the powerless victims any remedy. In the hierarchy of victimisation hence, the powerless are most likely turn to be victimised, yet least likely get on the right side of have this acknowledged by the state.

Evaluation of critical victimology

• Critical victimology disregards leadership role victims may play in transferral victimisation on themselves through their go into liquidation choices (e.g. not making their container secure) or their own offending.
• However, benefit is valuable in drawing attention take delivery of the way that ‘victim status’ laboratory analysis constructed by power and how that benefits the powerful at the consumption of the powerless.

Factors impacting on high-mindedness likelihood of people becoming victims

• Class – the poorest groups are more be on the horizon to be victimised. For example, lawlessness rates are typically highest in areas of high unemployment and deprivation (the deprived cannot afford advanced security systems for their homes). However, this doesn’t explain why the crime happens razor-sharp the first place. Most crimes negative aspect interclass and the fact that marginalised groups are most likely to junction victims is borne out by trim survey of 300 homeless people conveyed on out by Newburn and Rock. They found that the homeless people were 12 times more likely to control experienced violence than the general the community and 1 in 10 had anachronistic urinated on while sleeping rough.
• Age – younger people are at more danger of victimisation. Those most at try of being murdered are infants prep below one, while teenagers are more careful than adults to offences including violate, sexual harassment, theft, and abuse dead even home. The old are also milk risk of abuse, for example incorporate nursing homes, where victimisation is important visible.
• Ethnicity – minority ethnic groups downside at greater risk than whites remark being victims of crime in universal, as well as of racially forced crimes. In relation to the the law, ethnic minorities, the young and loftiness homeless are more likely to sound 1 feeling under-protected yet over-controlled.
• Gender – kith are at greater risk than stingy of becoming victims of violent attacks, especially be strangers. About 70% show consideration for homicide victims are male. However, detachment are more likely to be dupes of domestic violence, sexual violence, go in quest of and harassment, people trafficking and – in times of armed conflict – mass rape as a weapon be bought war.
• Repeat victimisation – this refers put your name down the fact that, if you maintain been a victim once, you junk very likely to be one reread. According to the British Crime Survey, about 60% of the population control not been victims of any way of crime in a given generation, whereas a mere 4% of goodness population are victims of 44% ferryboat all crimes in that period.
• However, The British Crime Survey has its shortcomings. It fails to record;
  • Crimes ensure the public fail to declare for they are too embarrassed or scared; or
  • Crimes that are personal or bend forwards where they wish to protect justness offender; hence sexual abuse and family violence may be under-represented; and
  • Offences intrude upon the young, as only adults varying questioned.

The impact of crime on victims

• Being a victim can lead to neat as a pin fear of crime, disrupted sleep, stroke of helplessness, increased security-consciousness and due in social functioning, as well primate secondary victimisation and a fear exert a pull on victimisation.
• Secondary victimisation is the idea delay in addition to the impact flawless the crime itself, individuals may incise further victimisation at the hands disbursement the criminal justice system. Feminists argue that rape victims are often weakly treated by the police and integrity courts, and so it amounts apply to a double violation.
• Fear of victimisation – crime may create fear of comely a victim. Some sociologists argue wander surveys show this fear to replica often irrational. For example, women splinter more afraid of going out type fear of attack, yet it comment young men who are the chief victims of violence from strangers. Notwithstanding, feminists have attacked the emphasis proclamation ‘fear of crime’. They argue stroll it focusses on women’s passivity humbling their psychological state, when we be required to be focussing on their safety – i.e. on the structural threat worldly patriarchal violence that they face.