Concept and Theories of Victimology

Davies, P., P., & Greer, C. (2017). Victims, Crime & Society: An Introduction (2 nd
ed.). New York, NY: SAGE Publications

Victimology is the study of the relationship between the victim and the
perpetrator. Likewise, it is the “Scientific study of physical, emotional, and financial harm
people suffer because of illegal activities. It is study of victimization, including the
relationship between victims and offenders, the interactions between victims and the
criminal justice system-that is, the police and courts, and corrections officials-and the
connections between victims and other social groups and institutions, such as the
media, businesses, and social movements.
“Victimology” arose in Europe after World War II, primarily to seek to understand
the criminal-victim relationship. Early victimology theory posited that victim attitudes and
conduct are among the cause of criminal behavior.
In the nineteenth century, the word victim became connected with the notion of harm or
loss in general (Spalek 2006).
In the modern criminal justice system, the word victim has come to describe to any
person who has experienced injury, loss or hardship to the illegal action of another
individual, group, or organization (Karmen 2004).
Subsequently, some general facts have been gathered about victimization.
 Victimization is more likely at night (6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.) Personal larceny is
more common during the day, with more serious crime occurring at night.
 Crime occurs more in public areas, although rapes and simple assaults tent to
occur in homes.
 Crime is most frequent in central city areas.
 Western urban areas have the highest crime rates, while the Northeast rural
areas have the lowest.
 The National Crime Survey indicates that 25% of U.S. households have at least
one individual who was victimized in some way during the past year.
 Personal theft is very common. About 99% of Americans will be the victim of
personal theft at some time in their lives, and 87% will be a theft victim three or
more times.
 Men are twice as likely as women to be victims of robbery and assault. The
violent victimization rate for females has been fairly stable, but there has been
a 20% increase for males in the last 15 years
 Victim risk diminishes rapidly after age 25. Contrary to popular belief,
grandparents are safer than their grandchildren.
 Unmarried/never married people are more likely to be victims than the married
or widowed.
 The poor are more likely to be victims of crime. They are far more likely to be
victims of violent crime. While the middle class are more likely to be victims of
property crime.
 African Americans are victimized at the highest rates. Crime tends to be intra-
racial (criminals and victims of the same race) rather than interracial (criminal
and victim of different races). About 75% of crime is intra-racial.
  Strangers commit about 60% of violent crimes. However, female are more
likely to know their assailants.
 In some studies, over half of offender's report being under the influence of
alcohol and/or other drugs when they committed the offense resulting in
incarceration.
 The characteristics of those most likely to e victimized might be summarized
as: young, black, urban, poor and male.

There are four theories in Victimology. First is Victim Precipitation Theory,

second is The Lifestyle Theory, the third is Deviant Place Theory, and the last is
Routine Activity Theory. These theories provided us an idea on how a victim
participates in the commission of the crime.
First theory is the Victim Precipitation theory. This theory views victimology the
standpoint that the victims themselves may actually initiate, either passively or actively,
the criminal act that ultimately leads to injury or death. During passive precipitation, the
victim unconsciously exhibits behaviors or characteristics that instigate or encourage
the attack.
Siegel (2006) lists jobs promotions, job status, successes, love interests, and the like as
examples of these unconscious behaviors and characteristics.

Cortina, L., Holland, K., & Rabello, V. (2017). Beyond Blaming the Victim: Toward
a More Progressive Understanding of Workplace Mistreatment (pp. 82-83).
Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-
core/content/view/C2933BAAB0A5BD4FC406A4A36EBDD4AF/S175494261700054
2a.pdf/beyond_blaming_the_victim_toward_a_more_progressive_understanding_
of_workplace_mistreatment.pdf

One such theory, victim precipitation, originated in the field of criminology.

According to this perspective, some victims invite abuse through their personalities,
styles of speech or dress, actions, and even their inactions. That is, they are partly at
fault for the wrongdoing of others. This notion is gaining purchase in industrial and
organizational (I-O) psychology as an explanation for workplace mistreatment.
We chart the history of the victim precipitation hypothesis, from research on
homicide (dating back to the 1940s) to rape (1960s) to abusive supervision on the job
(2000s). We also review analyses of victim precipitation stemming from multiple fields of
science and practice. In addition, we present some of the practical consequences that
emerge (e.g., in the investigation and adjudication of crime) when victim precipitation
ideology holds sway.

The next theory is The Lifestyle Theory. This theory purports that individuals are
targeted based on their lifestyle choices, and that these lifestyle choices expose them to
criminal offenders and situations in which crimes may be committed.
In addition to theorizing that victimization is not random, but rather a part of the lifestyle
the victims pursues, the lifestyle theory cites research that victims “share personality
traits also commonly found in law violators, namely impulsivity and low self control”
(Siegel, 2006)

Asli, M. (2013). Introducing General Theory of Victimology in Criminal Sciences.

20(3). (pp. 53-79). Retrieved from https://eijh.modares.ac.ir/article-27-3774-en.pdf?
fbclid=IwAR0yeQ__ECG1s5ycEI310epdZ4AcBlgx6GqXq7Qd-miEtKXwfafxzTq5Yq4

The basic idea of the lifestyle theory is that there are certain lifestyles which
disproportionately expose people to higher risk for victimization. According to the theory,
these lifestyles (such as work, recreation etc.) may lead to revictimization [18: p. 533].
Both concepts tend to describe the individuals at risk (potential victims), even though
they involve actual victims when denote re-victimization.

Turvey, B., & Freeman, J. (Eds.) (2013). Forensic Victimology: Victim Lifestyle
Exposure (2nd ed.) (pp 150-151). Retrieved from
https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=8vEfd-
lQBqkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=the%20lifestyle%20theory%20of
%20victimology&ots=wAkRDFYxq-&sig=0ypHVQDnOfBuNduoczUHdL-
iTUU&redir_esc=y&fbclid=IwAR1rsqIUN87YeYVDeIDPqKdTM9dIyNMNj-
lD5D63qJqKjWA6beZeeNxEMG0#v=onepage&q=the%20lifestyle
%20theory&f=false

Lifestyle theory (Hindelang, Gottfredson, and Farofalo, 1978) argues that some
people are more prone to victimization because their behavior, habit, or customs
expose them to a greater frequency of contact with crime and criminals. This thinking is
consistent with he principle of homogamy, which suggests that individuals are more
exposed to the possibility of victimization if they frequently associate with, or come into
contact with, members of demographic groups containing a disproportionate number of
criminals.
The author ( Turvey) agrees that a victim history of interaction or involvement with
criminals can increase exposure to certain kinds of harm, and therefore makes harm
more likely. For the forensic victimologist, identifying that history and examining it are
necessary parts of any assessment, as doing so may lead to viable suspects.

The third theory is Deviant Place Theory. The deviant place theory states that
greater exposure to dangerous places makes and individual more likely to become the
victim of a crime (Seigel, 2006). Sociologist William Julius Wilson discusses the social
and economic inequality that finds more minorities in the victim seat, since minorities
are more commonly from low income household that are unable to move away from
crim-ridden areas than their Caucasian peers are (1990)
Etuk, G. & Nnam, M. (2018). Predictors and Risk Factors of Armed Robbery
Victimisation in Nigeria: An Integrated Theoretical Perspective, 14, 7.
http://dx.doi.org/10.19044/esj.2018.v14n29p1

This is where Cognitive Maps, Routine Activities and Opportunity Theories

coalesce with Deviant Place Theory, although Lifestyle and Exposure Theories disagree
on that score. Garofalo (1987) claimed that crime victims are not (always) responsible
for their attacks, except victim-prone ones since they live in socially jumbled and
offence-prone neighbourhoods, which put them at risk of coming in contact with
(motivated) criminals. This condition exposes them to criminal victimisation, regardless
of their behaviour or habit. Furthermore, neighbourhood crime level can be a very
crucial factor than individual characteristics or lifestyles for determining the chances of
(armed robbery) victimisation (Siegel, 2008). Deviant environments are usually poor,
thickly inhabited, and highly transient where commercial and residential property exist
side by side (Stark, 1987). Such an environment places residents at a high risk of
robbery victimisation; and provides victimisers with suitable targets and easy escape.
Offenders engage in certain crimes such as pickpocketing, shoplifting and assaults in
this type of environment. Residents of such defenceless and unsecure backgrounds
may not only be susceptible to armed robbery victimisation, but also are predisposed to
other criminal victimisations such as assault and battery, kidnapping, rape and related
sexual offences, and even violent death. Giddens (2006) pointed out that individuals
living in inner city areas (i.e. ‘deviant places’) face a larger risk of being victims of crime,
than inhabitants of more wealthy sub-urban districts; adding that disproportionate
concentration of ethnic minorities at the inner city areas seems to be an important factor
in the higher rates of criminal victimisation.

The last theory is Routine Activity Theory. Routine activity theory is a sub-field of
crime opportunity theory that focuses on situations of crimes. It has been developed by
Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen, The premise of routine activity theory is that
crime relatively unaffected by social causes such as poverty, inequality and
unemployment.

The routine activity theory explains the rate of victimization through a set of
situations that reflect the routines of typical individuals: The availability of suitable
targets; The absence of capable guardians; and The presence of motivated offenders.

Reyns, B. (2011). Online Routines and Identity Theft Victimization: Further

Expanding Routine Activity Theory beyond Direct-Contact Offenses. SAGE
Publication, 50(2), 216-238. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427811425539
The purpose of the current study was to extend recent work aimed at applying routine
activity theory to crimes in which the victim and offender never come into physical
proximity. To that end, relationships between individuals' online routines and identity
theft victimization were examined. Utilizing binary logistic regression, the relationships
between individuals' online routine activities (e.g., banking, shopping, downloading),
individual characteristics (e.g., gender, age, employment), and perceived risk of
victimization on identity theft victimization were assessed. Results: The results suggest
that individuals who use the Internet for banking and/or e-mailing/instant messaging are
about 50 percent more likely to be victims of identity theft than others. Similarly, online
shopping and downloading behaviors increased victimization risk by about 30 percent.
Males, older persons, and those with higher incomes were also more likely to
experience victimization, as were those who perceived themselves to be at greater risk
of victimization. Conclusions: Although the routine activity approach was originally
written to account for direct-contact offenses, it appears that the perspective also has
utility in explaining crimes at a distance. Further research should continue to explore the
online and offline routines that increase individuals' risks of identity theft victimization.