1.14: Victims and Victim Typologies
[1] A victim is an integral part of the system, in fact, some say without a victim there would be no need for the CJ system. Victims are the people or communities that suffer physical, emotional, or financial harm as a result of a crime. Over the years different typologies of victims have been created to demonstrate the unique role or position of victims in relation to crime. Typically, when people hear someone has been a victim of a crime we often think of them as completely innocent. In fact, a lot of new legislation and policy changes created to provide the victim with a greater role in the CJ offers the stereotypical view of the victim as completely innocent. [2]
Typologies of Crime Victims
Mendelsohn’s Typology of Crime Victims
| Innocent victim | Someone who did not contribute to the victimization and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is the victim we most often envision when thinking about enhancing victim rights. |
| The victim with minor guilt | Does not actively participate in their victimization but contributes to it in some minor degree, such as frequenting high-crime areas. This would be a person that continues to go to a bar that is known for nightly assault. |
| The guilty victim, guilty offender | Victim, an offender may have engaged in criminal activity together. This would be two people attempting to steal a car, rob a store, sell drugs, etc. |
| The guilty offender, guiltier victim | The victim may have been the primary attacker, but the offender won the fight. |
| Guilty victim | The victim instigated a conflict but is killed in self-defense. An example would be an abused woman killing her partner while he is abusing her. |
| Imaginary victim | Some people pretend to be victims and are not. This would be someone falsifying reports. |
Von Hentig’s Typology
| Young people | Immature, under adult supervision, lack physical strength and lack the mental and emotional maturity to recognize victimization |
| Females/elderly | Lack of physical strength |
| Mentally ill/intellectually disabled | Can be taken advantage of easily |
| Immigrants | Cannot understand language or threat of deportation makes them vulnerable |
| Minorities | Marginalized in society, so vulnerable to victimization. |
| Dull normals | Reasonably intelligent people who are naive or vulnerable in some way. These people are easily deceived. |
| The depressed | Gullable, easily swayed, and not vigilant. |
| The lonesome and broken-hearted | Often prone to victimization by intimate partners. They desire to be with someone at any cost. They are susceptible to manipulation. |
| Tormentors | Primary abusers in relationships and become victims when the one being abused turns on them. |
| Blocked, exempted, and fighting victims | Enter situations in which they are taken advantage such as blackmail. |
victim precipitation . Victim precipitation suggests many victims play a role in their victimization. First, the victim acted first during the course of the offense, and second that the victim instigated the commission of the offense. [6] It is important to note that criminologists were attempting to demonstrate that victims may have some role in the victimization and are not truly innocent. Today we often recognize the role in victimization without blaming the individual because ultimately the person who offended is the person who offended.
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Hagemann, O., Schäfer, P., & Schmidt, S. (Eds.) (2010).
Victimology, Victim Assistance, and Criminal Justice: Perspectives Shared by International Experts
Wemmers, J. A short history of victimology. at the Inter-University Centre of Dubrovnik. 2010. Available at SSRN:
https://ssrn.com/abstract=2482627
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Fuller, J.R. (2019).
Introduction to Criminal Justice:
New York: Oxford University Press.
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Mendelsohn, B. (1976). Victimology and contemporary society's trends.
Victimology, 1
(1), 8-28.
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Burgess, A. W. (2013).
Victimology: Theories and applications.
(3rd ed.). Burlington: Jones and Bartlett.
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Von Hentig, H. (1948).
The criminal and his victim: Studies in the sociobiology of crime.
New Haven: Yale University Press.
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Smith, M., & Bouffard, L. A. (2014). "Victim precipitation."
The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice,
Wiley Online Library.
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