Victimology

Individual Project Unit 1        

American InterContinental University Online

Abstract

Imagine you are driving to your friend's house and you witness an altercation taking place between two men on the street. As you are watching the news later that night, you see that one of the men involved in the fight you witnessed has received serious injuries. The police are looking for witnesses to the crime. You call the police department listed in the newscast and explain what you saw on your way to your friend's house. The police thank you for your statement and will let you know if they need any more information. This is the first step in victimology.

A victim is someone who suffered some type of injury, loss, or hardship for any reason. Now a crime victim is someone who has suffered at the hands of someone else illegally. The study of victimology means the handling of victims, the mental and physical condition of victims, and the victim’s economic hardship.

Victimology is the study of the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. To understand this concept, first, we must understand what the terms victim and perpetrator mean. The victim is a person who has been harmed by a perpetrator. The perpetrator, also known as the offender, is an individual who has committed the crime against the victim. Law enforcement agencies use the study of victimology and the theories of victimology to determine why the victim was targeted by the offender (Blanco).

Victimology and the caring for victims were founded by criminologists. In 1949 a psychiatrist used the term victimology. Then, in 1960 the President’s commission of law enforcement and the Administration of Justice fought that more attention needed to be addressed to the victims of crimes. The above administration put out a survey to get more information about the victims. This survey showed that a lot of victims were not reporting their incidents because of their lack of trust in the justice system. Then in the 1970’s, the victim’s rights movement was formed and that movement resulted in more programs and a lot better treatment for victims of crimes.

By 1972 the women’s right movement was focusing on the victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, which lead to the opening of the first rape crisis center. Then in 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Linda R.S. v. Richard D. (410 U.S. 614) ruled that the complainant did not have the legal standing to keep the prosecutors' office from discriminately applying a statute criminalizing non-payment of child support. The court articulated the then-prevailing view that a crime victim cannot compel a criminal prosecution because “a private citizen lacks a judicially cognizable interest in the prosecution or non-prosecution of another.” This ruling served as a high-water mark in the shift away from the victim-centric approach to criminal justice, making it clear that victims in the 1970s had "no formal legal status beyond that of a witness or piece of evidence