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Victimology 2024 Summary (English!)
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VICTIMOLOGYLECTURE 1: ORIGIN AND CONCEPTS
Voorbeelden examenvragen:
➢ What is an ideal victim?
➢ Explain victimization
➢ Look at Gaza and what they are doing to the Isrealis → how does that relate to the ideal
victim? How come we sympathize (or not) with people in the Gaza strip?
1. HISTORY
1.1. THE ORIGIN
➢ Victimology
= The scientific study of the extent, nature, and causes of (criminal) victimization, its
consequences for the individuals involved, and societal responses, particularly those of the
police, criminal justice system, as well as voluntary and welfare services (VWS)
Definition from the world conference of victimology (Victimology World Society)
➢ Humanistic approach = we are here to support the victim as a human being and it doesn’t
matter if the person has been victimized by an accident, a felony,…
Difference between victims of crime and victims of accidents
When should we start studying the victim? Those of crime or should we also study victims
of accidents?
Explain why “crime” is between brackets in the definition
➢ Often considered a subdiscipline:
Psychiatry, law, social work
However, criminologists have the greatest influence
An essential component of offender studies within criminology, it has thus become an
integral part of criminological sciences
WHO IS THE VICTIM?
Who is going to become a victim of violence? Who has more chance?
It has been demonstrated that the one who has more chances of becoming
a victim is D → it depends on what you do in life
D is already part of a criminal network, is violent himself & thus he is a
victim → your own behavior is important (lifestyle & RAT)
The ideal victim is not the same as what actually happens in life → because
we would say A or B
1
,LEOPOLD SZONDI (1930)
➢ Genotropism
Theory: reciprocal attraction of the same/similar recessive genes influencing human
behavior (instinct)
o He thought (NOT PROVEN) that there were genes influencing human behavior
Theory of Genotropism
o Idea that victim selection is not entirely random and that there is a thought-
process linked to this → no evidence
o Used as evidence in the Ted Bundy case
TED BUNDY
➢ 1946-1989: Confirmed 36 victims in the 1970’s
➢ Ted Bundy said he could recognize his next victim
Someone who has already been victimized before = the ideal victim
Something in their behavior made him think “Aah this is my victim”
➢ Victim selection:
He selected his victims by sight
A matter of opportunity
He claimed that he could identify a potential victim by the way she walks down the street,
the way she carries her head, her body language, etc
o Research confirms that victims exhibit certain typical body language, especially in
the way they walk
o Psychopaths are more accurate in recognizing potential victims
• They are more able to identify who has been victimized or not
➢ First mention of ‘victimology’
Mendelsohn & Von Hentig were the first sociologists/criminologists who thought to look
to victims in order to fully comprehense criminal behavior
Mendelsohn, 1947: during the presentation of a paper
o Considered the spiritual father of the victim movement
• We need to better understand the crime and the reasons, motivations of
the offender to commit the crime
Werthem (1949) also advocates for a "crime victim-centered" science.
o Focused particularly on murder
o We need to look at the behaviour before they get murdered
➢ First systematic investigation into crime victims by von Hentig (1941, 1948)
"The Criminal and his Victim" (1948). Part 4: "The Victim's contribution to the genesis of
the crime."
o This was the first time that someone was actively studying how a victim
contributes to his own victimization
2
, o Prior to this, victims were considered to be passive → wrong time, wrong place
o But now: critique of the one-dimensional perspective within criminology
o Does crime come naturally or has the victim something to do with it?
"The law considers certain results and the final moves which lead to them. Here it makes a
clear-cut distinction between the one who does and the one who suffers. Looking into the
genesis of the situation, in a considerable number of cases, we meet a victim who
consents tacitly, cooperates, conspires, or provokes. The victim is one of the causative
elements"
o Crime is an activity → law considers movements & results
o Victim = the one who suffers, passive → Von Hentig says it is not true
• The victim sometimes conspires to become a victim, provokes,
cooperates,…
• So the victim has something to do with it, he is one of the causing
elements
• DANGEROUS zone: victim blaming vs assessment of genesis of crime
▪ We have to remain neutral, because we too often sympathize
with the victim → it is not a call for sympathy, but a call for
rational analysis of the genesis of the crime
▪ This has led to the lifestyle theory and RAT
▪ This also led to everyone being more vigilant and closing their
doors, locking their bikes → because if we wouldn’t, we would
be tacitly consenting to becoming a victim
➢ Number of theoretical studies:
On victim types, the relationship between victim and offender, and the role victims play
in certain criminal phenomena
Theoretical studies look at documents → no field research → only based on criminal
records
➢ Number of empirical studies:
Murder, rape, theft, assault, fraud, extortion,...
➢ Martin Wolfgang: "victim precipitated criminal homicide" (1957) → very influential!
588 murder cases between 1948-1952 in Philadelphia
26% victim precipitation cases where the victim was the first to engage in violence
o Without that violence from the victim, the crime might not have happened
Victim precipitation means that you contribute to an extent to your victimization, you do
something
o Victim precipitation means the victim is not neutral, they did something to ensure
they became a victim
➢ Menachem Amir: "Victim precipitated forcible rape" (1967)
Active 'contribution': accepting a drink from a stranger, riding with a stranger
Passive 'contribution': not reacting strongly enough to sexual advances
3
, o Not saying ‘no’ strongly enough → turns into victim blaming quickly!
Examples: alcohol, "reputation," place of residence, meeting place,...
NO excuse for the offender
➢ Victim precipitation or victim-blaming?
Especially in the 1970s, victim precipitation was increasingly seen as victim-blaming
➢ VP research has contributed to two major criminological theories:
Lifestyle theory: what you do in your life, has an influence
o If you go to a rough neighborhood, chances of becoming a victim are higher
Routine activities theory : crime will occur →
o Motivated offender
o Absence of a guardian
o Suitable target
➢ In ‘70s & ‘80s: neoliberalism
Individual is responsible for his own success, but also his own demise → succeeding in life
is up to you, as is failing
Equal opportunities: everyone starts on the same page
Liberal thought: equality before law and everything else → contrary to social democracy
o Example: everyone is equal, but not really → starting point and equal
opportunities are different → some people have barriers, which means chances
should be distributed unequally (equity) if you want more equality in society
➢ At the core of these pioneers: victims of crimes
1950s-1960s
Also during the 1970s-1980s due to the emergence of professional assistance for crime
victims
➢ 1979: establishment of the World Society of Victimology
1.2. THE EVOLUTION
➢ Gradual broadening during the 1970s of the research focus
Similarities with war victims, prisoners in camps, and certain types of aggression and
discrimination (Nazism, Apartheid)
o Critical reflection on the state & state crimes → example: agent orange
o Deforest Vietnam because the guerilla movement was hiding in the jungle
o Side effects: children were born deformed or with cancer
Criminologists explore other crimes/phenomena: white-collar crime, environmental
crime,...
o Who is the victim here, and what about perception?
o Victimless crimes → but can lead to harms such as cancer (asbestos &
environmental crimes)
4
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