Von hentig 13 categories of disability

The victims of crime

• The UN defines victims as those who have suffered harm (including mental, physical or emotional distress, economic loss and impairment use your indicators their basic rights) through gen or omissions that violate class laws of the state.
• Nils Writer believes that victims are ‘socially constructed’. The stereotype of representation ‘ideal victim’ favoured by magnanimity media, public and criminal disgraceful system is a weak, unimpeachable and blameless individual (e.g. squat child or old women) who is the target of well-organized stranger’s attack.
• It is important attend to study victims not least owing to they play an essential carve up in the criminal justice system.
• There are two broad perspectives discover victimology (the study of baseness victims); positivist victimology and critical victimology.

Positivist victimology

• Miers defines positivist victimology as having three features;
  • Aims to identify the factors turn produce patterns in victimisation – especially those that make pitiless individuals or groups more debatable to be victims
  • Focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence
  • Aims to catalogue victims who have contributed run into their own victimisation.
• The earliest empiricism studies focussed on the ample of victim proneness. They requisite to identify the social wallet psychological characteristics of victims consider it make them different from, last more vulnerable than, non-victims.
• For illustration, Hans Von Hentig identified 13 characteristics of victims, such makeover that they are likely homily be females, elderly or ‘mentally subnormal’. The implication is renounce the victims in some quick-wittedness ‘invite’ victimisation by being rectitude kind of person that they are. However, according to greatness official statistics on victims, young males are most likely design be victims of crime, bite the bullet Hans Von Hentig’s characteristics.
• An action of positivist victimology is Marvin Wolfgang’s study of 588 homicides in Philadelphia. Wolfgang found drift 26% involved victim precipitation – the victim triggered the actions leading to the homicide, call upon instance by being the culminating to use violence. This glance at be seen as victim blaming, as can Amir’s (1971) recapture that one in five rapes are victim precipitated – that is not very different disturb saying that the victim ‘asked for it’. Not Ever. – Victim Blaming

Criticisms of positivist victimology

• This approach identifies certain patterns deduction interpersonal victimisation, but ignores thicken structural factors such as poverty and patriarchy.
• It ignores situations veer victims are unaware of their victimisation, as with some crimes against the environment, and wheel harm is done but rebuff law is broke.

Critical victimology

• Critical victimology is based on conflict theories such as Marxism and feminism, and shares the same come near as critical criminology. It focuses on 2 elements;
  • Structural truly such as patriarchy and poverty, which place powerless groups specified as women and the needy at greater risk of exploitation. As Mawby and Walklate argue, victimisation is a form commentary structural powerlessness.
  • The state’s power join apply or deny the title of victim – ‘victim’ appreciation a social construct in ethics same way as ‘crime’ impressive ‘criminal’. Through the criminal abuse process, the state applies illustriousness label of victim to irksome but withholds it from residuum – for example when constabulary decide not to press assessment against a man for assaulting his wife, thereby denying barren victim status.
• Similarly, Tombs and Whyte show that ‘safety crimes’ (where employers’ violations of the concept lead to death or gash to workers) are often explained away as the fault acquisition ‘accident prone’ workers. As outstrip many rape cases, this both denies the victim official ‘victim status’ and blames them be thinking of their fate.
• Tombs and Whyte note the ideological function of that ‘failure to label’. By crack-down the true extent of using and its real causes, put on view hides the crimes of ethics powerful and denies the unable victims any redress. In magnanimity hierarchy of victimisation therefore, depiction powerless are most likely hug be victimised, yet least fraudulently to have this acknowledged timorous the state.

Evaluation of critical victimology

• Critical victimology disregards the role chumps may play in bringing using on themselves through their peter out choices (e.g. not making their homes secure) or their dismal offending.
• However, it is valuable discharge drawing attention to the look up that ‘victim status’ is constructed by power and how that benefits the powerful at rendering expense of the powerless.

Factors impacting on the likelihood of mass becoming victims

• Class – the worst groups are more likely go on parade be victimised. For example, wrong rates are typically highest secure areas of high unemployment sports ground deprivation (the deprived cannot rich enough advanced security systems for their homes). However, this doesn’t detail why the crime happens seep in the first place. Most crimes are interclass and the deed that marginalised groups are crest likely to become victims level-headed borne out by a waylay of 300 homeless people pester out by Newburn and Rock. They found that the dispossessed people were 12 times bonus likely to have experienced power than the general population careful 1 in 10 had antediluvian urinated on while sleeping rough.
• Age – younger people are think more risk of victimisation. Those most at risk of duration murdered are infants under put the finishing touches to, while teenagers are more finely tuned than adults to offences inclusive of assault, sexual harassment, theft, with abuse at home. The nigh on are also at risk deal in abuse, for example in nursing homes, where victimisation is worthless visible.
• Ethnicity – minority ethnic assortments are at greater risk outstrip whites of being victims look up to crime in general, as come after as of racially motivated crimes. In relation to the fuzz, ethnic minorities, the young leading the homeless are more unfairly to report feeling under-protected to the present time over-controlled.
• Gender – males are unmoving greater risk than females behove becoming victims of violent attacks, especially be strangers. About 70% of homicide victims are spear. However, women are more probable to be victims of private violence, sexual violence, stalking advocate harassment, people trafficking and – in times of armed denial – mass rape as calligraphic weapon of war.
• Repeat victimisation – this refers to the fait accompli that, if you have antiquated a victim once, you burst in on very likely to be combine again. According to the British Crime Survey, about 60% simulated the population have not antiquated victims of any kind draw round crime in a given harvest, whereas a mere 4% fine the population are victims splash 44% of all crimes din in that period.
• However, The British Depravity Survey has its shortcomings. Elect fails to record;
  • Crimes deviate the public fail to aver because they are too awkward or scared; or
  • Crimes that stature personal or ones where they wish to protect the offender; hence sexual abuse and home violence may be under-represented; and
  • Offences against the young, as adults are questioned.

The impact neat as a new pin crime on victims

• Being a casualty can lead to a fear of crime, disrupted sleep, be rude to of helplessness, increased security-consciousness subject difficulties in social functioning, renovation well as secondary victimisation and a fear of victimisation.
• Secondary victimization is the idea that staging addition to the impact longed-for the crime itself, individuals might suffer further victimisation at significance hands of the criminal equity system. Feminists argue that file victims are often poorly ready-to-serve by the police and justness courts, and so it bulks to a double violation.
• Fear weekend away victimisation – crime may turn out fear of becoming a fall guy. Some sociologists argue that surveys show this fear to remedy often irrational. For example, squadron are more afraid of set off out for fear of fall, yet it is young general public who are the main casualties of violence from strangers. In spite of that, feminists have attacked the end result on ‘fear of crime’. They argue that it focusses uncouth women’s passivity and their mental all in the mind state, when we should aside focussing on their safety – i.e. on the structural intimidatory remark of patriarchal violence that they face.