COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL

JUSTICE EDUCATION

GRADUATE SCHOOL

Master of Science in Criminal Justice (MSCJ)

Title of the Report: Victims and Victimization

Date Reported: NOVEMBER 04, 2023

Reported By: EZRA RIZLE L GRAMAJE and ANALYN RAMIREZ

Submitted to: MAAM AIZHA ZUNIGA

A. INTRODUCTION

Victimisation can affect people physically, emotionally, mentally, and

spiritually. When survivors are unable to work or miss work because of the time

involved in talking to police, lawyers, or attending court, they can lose their income or

housing, and accumulate debt. Crime is generally understood to be behaviour that is

prohibited by criminal law. In other words, no act can be considered a crime,

irrespective of how immoral or damaging it may be, unless it has been made criminal

by state legislation. This conceptualization appears straightforward enough.

However, it tells us very little about the processes whereby certain harmful acts

and victims routinely come to be identified and recognized as part of the crime

problem while others remain hidden. A critical approach to the study of crime and its

impact on individuals and society therefore requires us to reflect on questions such

as: What is ‘criminal’? How do legal conceptions of ‘crime’ and its victims come to be

constructed? Clearly, victims play a central role in initiating the criminal justice

process. Without them, much of the work of the criminal justice process would come
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JUSTICE EDUCATION
to a halt. The numbers and types of cases entering the system and thereby

eventually providing the workload for the courts, prison service and other

conventional agencies, appear largely to be determined by the reporting behaviour of

victims and witnesses, not action initiated by the police. The fact that only a fraction

of crime is reported to and recorded by the police, combined with low clear-up rates,

means that only a small proportion of offences ever reach the. In all these cases,

victim experiences can be prolonged and complex. An incident that occurred in

perhaps a few minutes can become the subject of a series of inquiries that may last

months or years after the event. Victims who come to court expecting that a trial will

be an assertion of their wrongs can find that their probity is on trial as well.

B. DISCUSSION of the TOPIC and SUBTOPICS

Victimology is the study of victimization, including the psychological effects on

victims, 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 The concept

of victim is by no means as clear as it may appear at first glance. The decisive factor

for the characterization of a victim is the damage or harm that has occurred. This

may be a material loss or occurred in the form of psychological or physical harm.

The injured person can be a natural person or a legal person. These definitive

cornerstones cover the majority of crime victims (e.g. young people are physically

harmed and also suffer psychological harm, which manifests itself in traumatization

and an increased fear of crime).

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JUSTICE EDUCATION

However, this definition reaches its limits when we are dealing with victimless

crimes such as environmental offenses (e.g. an oil Freighter dumps used oil into a

body of water). Who is a victim here: the environment, fishermen, vacationers,

society as a whole? The fact that damage occurs as a qualifying characteristic

creates further problems. For example, if a burn victim’s suffering is due to a natural

disaster and not to arson, how does this distinction affect their role as a victim?

Cases are also conceivable in which people are harmed without being direct victims

of a crime. For example, the relatives and friends of a severely injured or deceased

victim or traumatized witnesses to the crime. Moreover, shoplifting, in addition to the

retail store as the directly injured, can also produce further victims on the part of

customers who will be negatively affected by higher prices to compensate for the

loss. Groups can therefore also be victims, e.g. all customers of business X or, for

example, ethnic minorities as victims of discrimination (“Role and Typology of

Victims,” n.d.). Acquiring an “official” victim status is only necessary in criminal

proceedings. Until then, it remains a self or external attribution. Hence, someone can

feel very certain they are a victim without being legally recognized as one, but the

reverse case is also conceivable that someone rejects the victim role, although it

may be legally clear that they are.

The impact of victimisation can vary based on the characteristics of the crime,

the characteristics of the victim and their relationship to the offender, and post-crime

factors like receiving access to timely and effective support (Karmen, 2020; Roebuck

& Stewart, 2018; Wemmers, 2017). After victimisation, survivors are suddenly forced

to navigate many new and complicated realities, potentially interacting with

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JUSTICE EDUCATION

healthcare providers, media, police, and victim service providers, all while grieving

and being presented with complicated choices about how to move forward (Roebuck

et al., 2020a). For many survivors, there is so much work to do after experiencing

violence that it can take a while before they have the time and space to process what

has happened. Throughout this time, friends and family may not know what to say

and may be silent to avoid causing further distress or they might offer unhelpful

advice (Brison, 2002).

KEY TERMS

Victimization- The action of singling someone out for cruel or unjust treatment

Victimology- The study of the victim’s role in criminal events

Victimologists- Criminologists who focus on the victims of crime.

This topic talks about how a victim becomes a victim. How is the coping mechanism

and how do we prevent on becoming a victim directly or indirectly. This topics covers

the

C. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the process of victimization can have profound psychological

effects on the victim, his or her support network and society in general. These

internal, cognitive and emotional changes need not be permanent to have a negative

effect. It is apparent that victims undergo cognitive and emotional changes through

the process of victimization. Research on treatment programs indicates that

programs that focus on cognitive skills help victims reach a non-symptom status

more quickly.

D. RECOMMENDATION
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JUSTICE EDUCATION
Victims are individuals who are involved in a criminal activity and affected

psychologically and physically, therefore it is recommended that people who suffered

from victimization may undergo physiological treatment. And sometimes victims on

sensitive cases like rape are in distress from their on-going case, it is recommended

that their case may not be published to media for their protection.

E. REFERENCE:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-20779-3_18

(PDF) Overview of Victimology (researchgate.net)

https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/116896_book_item_116896.pdf

https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/victim/rr03_vic2/p9.html