CHAPTER THREE

VICTIMOLOGY

Victimology is the study about victims of crime. It is a branch

of Criminology that deals purely on the underlying factors (BASIC
INGREDIENT / FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT) of victimization and
the contributory role of the victims in the commission of crimes.
Victimology, being the study of “crime targets”, showed that a
person becomes a victim of crime consciously (knowingly) and
unconsciously (unknowingly). A person could become a victim due
to his own action or fault. He somehow contributes to the
commission of crime because of his own making. The effects of
crime differ from one person to another.. Crime can result to:
financial loss property damage
physical injury death
Sometimes more devastating effects are the psychological
wounds after the crime, wounds that may never heal.
In an attempt to prevent victimization, individuals may move,
restrict their daily activities, or purchase expensive security
measures. Billions of money and man power are being extended
by governments to apprehend and punish offenders, yet we have
only started recently to focus our attention on the victims of the
crime.
Criminal victims could be key actors in criminal justice process,
but more often they are kept at the discussion. The victim of crime
often becomes the FORGOTTEN PERSON of the criminal justice
system while the criminal is the celebrity. Victims are only valued
for their capacity to report crimes and to appear in court as
witnesses.
TYPOLOGY OF CRIMINAL VICTIMS
GENERAL CLASSES OF VICTIMS

Based on the classification of Hans Von Hentig, a European

lawyer)
1. The Young - the weak by virtue and immaturity
2. The Female – often less physically powerful and easily
dominated by males.
3. The Old – the incapable of Physical defense and the
common object of confidence scheme.
4. The Mentally Defective – those that are unable to think
clearly.
5. The Immigrant – those that are unsure of the rules of
conduct in the surrounding society.
6. The Minorities – racial prejudice may lead to victimization
or unequal treatment by the agency of justice.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES OF VICTIMS

1. The Depressed – submissive person by virtue of

emotional condition
2. The Acquisitive or Greedy – person who wants more that
what is sufficient
makes a natural victim of crime.
3. The Wanton or Overly Sensual - person ruled by passion
and thoughtlessly seeking pleasure.
4. The Lonesome – person who eventually becomes a victim
by virtue of wanting companionship or affection
5. The Heartbroken – one who is emotionally disturbed by
virtue of heartaches and pains.
 6. The Tormented – a victim who asked for it, often from his
own family or friend.

OTHER TYPES OF VICTIMS

Benjamin Mendelsohn, a European defense attorney created his

own classification of victim types. This includes the following six
categories:

1. The completely innocent victim – such a person is an ideal

victim in popular perception. In this category placed persons
victimized while they were unconscious, and the child victims.
2. Victims with only minor guilt and those victimized due to
ignorance.
3. The victim who guiltier than the offender – this category was
described as containing persons who provoked the criminal or
actively induced their own victimization.
4. The most guilty victim “who is guilty alone” – an attacker killed
by a would be victim in the act of defending themselves were
placed in this category.
5. The imaginary victim – those suffering from mental disorders,
or those victims due to extreme mental abnormalities.

Benjamin Mendelsohn is generally credited as the initiator of

the word VICTIMOLOGY as well as the concept of PENAL
COUPLE. Penal couple is a term that describes the relationship
between the victim and the criminal. He also coined the term
VICTIMAL to describe the victim counterpart of the criminal, and
the word VICTIMITY, which signified the opposite of criminality.
 Another class of victim is the ‘LOSER’ or one who is initially
the attacker but later, the situation is reversed. An example could
be the case of a mugger or a bully who ends up injured or a
swindler becomes swindled.

DYNAMICS OF VICTIMIZATION

There are a number of procedural models which can be

applied to the study of the victimization process for the purpose
of understanding the experience of victims.

1. “Victims of Crime Model” (by Bard and Sangrey).

According to this model, there are three stages involved in any
victimization:

a. Stage of Impact & Disorganization – stage during and

immediately following the Criminal event
b. Stage of Recoil – stage during which the victim formulates
psychological defenses and deals with conflicting emotions
of guilt, anger, acceptance, and desire of revenge (said to
last three to eight months),
c. Reorganization Stage – stage during which the victim puts
his or her own life back to normal daily living.

* Some victims however may not successfully adopt the

victimization experience and a maladaptive reorganization
stage may last for many years.
 2. “Disaster Victim’s Model ” – this model was developed to
explain the coping behavior of victims of natural disaster.
According to this model, there are four stages of victimization:

a. Pre-Impact – stage describe the victim’s condition prior

to being victimized
b. Impact – the stage at which victimization occur
c. Post- Impact – stage which entails the degree and
duration of personal and social disorganization following
victimization.
d. Behavioral Outcome – stage that describes the victim’s
adjustment to the victimization experience

FACTORS OF VICTIMIZATION

1. Hedonism
2. Materialistic Culture
3. Sex Values
4. Decay of Discipline
5. Public Morality

Response to Victimization

The contemporary study of the characteristics of crime victims

has tended to focus on identifying risk factors in order to better
understand the phenomena, without attributing blame to the
victims. Information about the risk for victimization has been used
to develop crime prevention and enforcement strategies.

Research indicates that there is a host of individual,

situational, and community-level factors that increase risk of
criminal victimization. Let’s look at the individual factors. Individuals
can be described in terms of their socio-demographic
characteristics. These characteristics are enumerated in the
acronym S.A.U.C.E.R.

Socio-demographic Characteristics

The risk of becoming victim varies as a function of

S.A.U.C.E.R.:
➢ Sex-male female
➢ Age-young, middle aged, or elderly
➢ Urban-urban or rural
➢ Class-socioeconomic class
➢ Ethnicity-racial characteristics
➢ Religion-religious preference

Sex- With the exception of sexual assault and domestic

violence, men have higher risk of assault than women. Lifetime
risk of homicide is three to four times higher for men than
women.

Age- Adolescents have substantially higher rates of assault than

young adults or older. Survey indicates that 12-to-19 year olds
are two to three times as likely as those over 20 to become
victims of personal crime each year. 62% of all forcible rape
 cases occurred when the victim was under 18 years of age
(Kilpatrick et al., 1992).

Urban- Crime and victimization is mostly an urban problem.

Urban areas have a dangerous amount of transience (strangers
moving in and out of town), heterogeneity (mix of different people
and places), and disorganization (dilapidation of housing and
buildings).

Class- Violence disproportionately affects those from lower

socioeconomic classes. Family income is related to rates of
violence and victimization, with lower income families at a higher
risk than those from higher income brackets.

Ethnicity- Racial and ethnic minorities have higher rates of

assault than other people. In America, rates of violent assault
are approximately twice as high for African- and Hispanic-
Americans compared to white Americans. African-Americans
and Hispanic-Americans are significantly more likely than White
Americans to have ever been violent victims of crime.

Religion- Certain religious groups tend to be regularly

prosecuted –and over represented in hate crime statistics.

Victims and Criminal Justice System

Victims of crime deserve rights and services in the criminal

justice system that begin at the point of reporting crime to the
police, and continue through the entire criminal justice system
process.
 The criminal justice system is charged with processing cases
from the point of victimization, arrest, prosecution and sanctions.
At each point along this continuum, criminal justice agencies and
professionals have opportunities and obligations to provide victims
with assistance, services and accommodations to ease their
difficulties in what is already a very trying, tragic time. The criminal
justice system can minimize and avoid inflicting “secondary
victimization” that has often characterized much of the plight of
victims of crime.