Psychological Effects of Victimization

Psychological harm resulting from rape that may cause physical injury, or have additional effects on the victims. Following a rape, a victim may face violence or threats thereof from the rapist, and, in some cases from the victim's own family and relatives. This article studies the way criminal rapists rationalize their cruel behavior. Scully and Marolla bring to attention that rapists will rationalize and find some kind of justification or excuse for their deviant behaviors. Rape seems to be viewed as a psychopathologic problem, and the rapists are looked at as vile. The bases of their arguments and conclusions are found within interviews focusing on the hard-core rapist population that is sentenced to prison time.

Many individuals have flashbacks after experiencing trauma. Survivors of such horrible traumas sometimes can act out in violence, after something triggers them to remember the ordeal. The novel The Suspect by L.R. Wright, offers a realistic account of what goes on in the mind of an individual who has committed murder. Throughout the novel, I made connections to many real life examples of how trauma has affected the lives of criminals and their victims, through either alcohol or mental illness. Individuals affected by this sort of trauma can seek medical or social help in order to be able to learn how to cope with daily living.

Each year, data are obtained from a nationally representative sample of about 90,000 households, comprising nearly 160,000 persons, on the frequency, characteristics, and consequences of criminal victimization in the United States. Each household is interviewed twice during the year. The survey enables BJS to estimate the likelihood of victimization by rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault, theft, household burglary, and motor vehicle theft for the population as a whole as well as for segments of the population such as women, the elderly, members of various racial or ethnic groups, city dwellers, and other groups. The NCVS provides the largest national forum for victims to describe the impact of crime and characteristics of violent offenders.”

Victimology draws together academics, activists, and policymakers from a variety of backgrounds and identifies three main victimological perspectives. Positivist victimology dates back to the emergence of victimology as a discipline in the 1940s. It looks to understand the process of victimisation and why people become victims of crime by examining the relationship between the victim and offender through an agency lens. Newburn (2013) identifies positivists such as Miers (1989) who see victimisation as being causal in nature and identify three key features:

The introduction of Nils Christie’s ‘Ideal victim’ theory (1986: 18) refers to victims of crime who can attain the status of a legitimate victim in the eyes of the public. Christie outlines a criteria which needs to be followed in order to gain this full status of a ‘legitimate victim’. Christie’s ‘ideal victim’ however is not the same as a legal victim and often real victims of crime deviate far from the concept of the ideal victim (Beck & Janbakhsh 2010). This therefore means that using Christie’s ideal victim theory to give someone the title of a legitimate victim is often detrimental. Male victims of sexual assault often deviate from the ‘ideal victim’ criteria set out by Christie, this means that when they encounter the justice system, their experiences are often marginalised or discounted entirely.

There can be changes in how the criminal justices process deals with rape victims; first, train all criminal justice agency professionals on the traumatic and disturbing effects of rape on the lives of its victims. Compassion for the rights of victims often leads to a more convictions and seek longer sentences. If the experience of victims in the criminal justice process is to be improved, there have to be a better understanding of the impact of victimization and of the need to treat victims of crime with courtesy, compassion, dignity, and sensitivity. There must be continual progress in raising awareness and expanding information services and assistance to victims of crime.

"Victims rarely expect to be victimized and seldom know where to turn for help. Victims may end up in the hospital to be treated and released, or they may be confined to bed for days, weeks, or longer. Injuries may be temporary, or they may be permanent and change the way the victims live" (qtd in "Victims of Crime").

Before the victims movement, victims were ignored in most court systems by the professionals who process criminal cases. Victims were often seen as inconvenient. The victims rights movement has changed this unfair treatment. As time passed prosecutors’ offices in the most jurisdictions spend greater time than they did in the past giving notice to victims and consulting with them about decisions made in their case. The staff of the prosecutors offices and court systems have a responsibility of shepherding victims through the intricacies of the criminal justice system. For example, they send a notice providing information about the systems operation, and to help them secure protection of threatened victims who have suffered harm. Laws have changed to allow victims to be present throughout trials in a number of jurisdictions. Victims information or their voices are heard in court, mainly at sentencing, and at the time guilty pleas are received. All of this has had changed by giving the victim the respect and dignity they need, honoring their participation and

My desire to help young adolescents who are remanded to the foster system regardless of their circumstances has pushed me in pursuing a Criminal Justice degree and has furthered my desire to become a Victim Advocate. Understanding how the criminal justice system works will only make me a better Victim Advocate. The ability to provide information and consolation on what victimization is, can help anyone who is going through a traumatizing experience. It can even lessen the intensity of trauma when there is someone present who understands and can empathize with the victim. A Victim Advocate is also essential in explaining the legal and protections of a victim, providing information on the criminal justice process, providing emotional

When considering all the different types of victims out there, it is important to keep in mind the hardships they experienced to be labeled a victim. Although victims may come out the situation stronger, so victims still prefer to keep the crime to themselves. We like to think to ourselves, “Why would someone keep a crime amongst themselves?” A victim may have had a horrific past experience with law enforcement and feel they would be unsuccessful or not take the situation seriously. The victim may think the crime could be better handle personally, or that the crime is a personal matter. There is also the possibility of the victim feeling they

When a person is the victim of a crime. they endure several different possibilities for the negative fallout. Both in their emotional, physical and financial lives. These people have had their very inner space invaded. However, different people react differently. Some people are able to move past their financial damages but are extremely emotionally traumatized. Some people can recover emotionally, but not financially. These factors will likely affect their ability to maneuver through the justice system.

Some of the strengths and benefits of the victim offender conferencing is that the victim can confront the offender and accomplish his or her reasons for participation such as in our textbook where the indirect victim had no other source of information about the offense. By participating in the program she accomplished the primary goals that most victims have such as having some human contact with the offender, the ability to show him the impact of the offense and the beginning of the healing process (Amstutz, 2009). The victim explains how her primary motive for the conference was to get rid of her desire for revenge that she had built up throughout her life; she accomplished her goal and is finally able to let go and move on (Amstutz, 2009).

Victimology in its strict sense means “the study of victimization, including the psychological effects on victims, relationships 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

The study of victimology includes several different theories. These theories are victim-based, interactional, societal-based, and ecological. However, before on can begin discussing these theories, the history of the development of victimology theories need to be broached. Although victimology may lack a singular theoretical foundation based within the field itself, it can be said that the field as a whole represents the application of several different theoretical insights that were developed from other disciplines. The first of these other disciplines is criminology. From his work, Vold (1958) was able to provide a framework for categorizing theories that relate to victimology. Within this paper the discussion will begin with the early spiritual explanations, followed by

There are various levels of pains, these include individual, household, organisational and societal. These pains can vary from tangible and monetised costs to intangible costs. Tangible and monetised costs include visible costs such as replacing and repairing goods and property, treating injuries and also the installation of security tools. Intangible costs change the victims’ behaviour and perspective. These intangible costs can be hard to identify and have long – lasting effects on the victim. Victims have the potential to develop psychological problems prior to the traumatic event such as depression, fear, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (Atkeson et al., 1982). Intangible costs are most commonly associated with particular crimes such as assault and sexual assault. These harms and pains can also cause collateral damage in the form of secondary