Sellin and Wolfgang’s Typology of Victimization Essay example

In the year of 1986 two women that lived in the same apartment complex were confronted by the same perpetrator. Both women were awoken by the man the allegedly entered their home raped them. Out of both the victims’ only one of them was able to identify Godschalk as the perpetrator, while the second victim of the crime was able to help the police in creating a compost sketch of the offender. The sketch was used to be broadcasted on television and placed on the local newspapers. On December 30 of 1986 the police department received a call informing them that Godschalk looked like the man that appeared on the sketch that was being broadcasted.

In the video “The Confessions” presented by Frontline, a murder of a women that was committed by one man, quickly resulted into a false gang murder-rape scene committed by eight men. The victim, Michelle Bosko, was seen to be raped and killed in her apartment in Norfolk, Virginia. From the video, it has been proven that seven out of the eight men that confessed were innocent, but somehow they all received an unequal punishment. Because the innocent men admitted to a murder that they didn’t commit out of fear, they were all sentenced to some time in prison. The head detective, Glenn Ford, intimidated the men so much that they either were convinced that they were at the crime scene or they told him every detail that he wanted to hear.

Violent crimes happen every day in America, yet the full scope of why and how they happen are not understood by many outside of law enforcement. But within the ranks of law enforcement and the criminal justice system itself, violent crimes are examined and analyzed at length to determine both how and why the incident occurred, as well as what can be done in the future to prevent a similar event from reoccurring. Investigators use multiple methods and seek various explanations as to why a violent crime occurs. This literature will look at some of those things that investigators try to sort out in the aftermath of a violent crime, such as the killer’s modus operandi and signatures, his psychology, relation to his victims, and how the effect of gender, race, or culture might impact his violent behavior.

The collection of all this data allows for theoretical explanations by criminologists on the social interactions between the victim and the offender(s).

In “ ‘A Steep Price…’” it analyzed the opinions of the public, media, victim, and aggressor in defending their particular take on the case. The article offers mild bias, so it does not completely report the events of the case, because it mostly focuses on the opinionated effects and not so much the facts. In “Feminist Put Judge...”, major bias is introduced by claiming to be in support of the feminist cause; however, the article uses a stronger ethical appeal to attract a broader, more unified audience. In “Here’s the Powerful Letter…”, the author recants the letter the victim wrote to her attacker, Brock Turner. She not only aims for the audience to feel the distress and havoc the case has relinquished on her life, but also a chance to spread a more positive message to thank her supporters while encouraging her audience to stand up for themselves and their self worth. The overall purpose of analyzing all these different media sources is to be able to recognize how the multiple points of view that a story can be told from will alter the objectivity of the event. A society’s culture will emphasis bias or certain point of views to get the public to believe one interpretation of the story based on the

This Ted Talk about how the criminal condemnation of most young adults are based on unfair circumstances. These circumstances being based upon race and background. Alice Goffman throughout the Ted Talk tells stories that persuade the audience through pathos to be tentative of injustices based on race. Goffman wants the audience to understand how these injustices are created and at then end gives some solutions. This Ted Talk will be helpful in showing some injustices and also showing some logos of criminal cases based on race. The Ted Talk will also be helpful in comparing the incarceration probability to the different

In this article, “Who Killed the Jeff Davis 8”, Ethan Brown, the author, attempted to solve the murder case and prove the police authorities to being wrong and being responsible for the murders of the town. The main problem of this article is determining who is responsible for the murders of those eight women everyone’s contradicting stories. In an attempt to figure out what really happened Brown includes factual evidence from interviews and shocking statistics to inform the reader of what’s going on in the article. By providing such information, Brown indulges the audience into the full experience of solving the murder case.

After Jennifer Thompson-Cannino was raped in 1984, she identified a man in a police lineup and in court as her attacker. The detective conducting the lineup told Jennifer that she had done great, confirming that she had chosen the suspect. Eleven years later, DNA evidence proved that the suspect, Ronald Cotton, had been wrongfully convicted of the rape. A man named Bobby Poole, who Thompson testified she had never seen before, was the man who actually raped her. Ronald and Jennifer's book, picking cotton, portrays common factors that contribute to erroneous convictions. Although it addresses a variety of important issues, the most crucial is how subtle factors like eyewitness misidentification, confirmation bias and nature of a defendant can

``In criminal law, confession evidence is a prosecutor’s most potent weapon’’ (Kassin, 1997)—“the ‘queen of proofs’ in the law” (Brooks, 2000). Regardless of when in the legal process they occur, statements of confession often provide the most incriminating form of evidence and have been shown to significantly increase the rate of conviction. Legal scholars even argue that a defendant’s confession may be the sole piece of evidence considered during a trial and often guides jurors’ perception of the case (McCormick, 1972). The admission of a false confession can be the deciding point between a suspect’s freedom and their death sentence. To this end, research and analysis of the false confessions-filled Norfolk Four case reveals the

Christopher was identified in a crime line-up and two of the women-mother and sister of the rape victim was in court and identified Coleman as the offender. They didn’t find any physical evidence to show that Coleman committed this crime. The victim's mother told the prosecutor that she had know Coleman years earlier and she had not seen him recently, but recognized his voice and distinctive walk. Another sister told the court that she knew Christopher by the nickname “Fat” and that he had removed his mask during the crime when it was occurring. Nevertheless, these women had identified Coleman to responding during the grand jury hearing, and the other sister had incorrectly identified at least two other alleged

In life, the line that separates victims from perpetrators is as clear as a window pane, but in some situations that window can crack, causing damage and danger. A victim is someone who has been harmed, or worse, due to a crime or accident. A perpetrator is a person who has committed a crime, either accidently or purposely. Three stories that capture this blurred line are Shattered, an Australian Story episode on ABC’s website, The Story of Tom Brennan, a story written by Australian author J.C.Burke, and In My Little Town, another Australian Story episode. They all share the common theme of having a blurred line between victim and perpetrator.

A local 13-year-old girl had identified Dail as the man who came through her window one night and held a knife to her throat as he raped her. Dail had no idea that he could be arrested because he didn’t even know what the police were talking about. With no prior record, Dail was released on bond until March 1989. Dail refused a plea bargain to plead no contest to allude lecivious act, which would have given him three years of probation, because he knew he

Throughout the years, the association between a criminal offense and a criminal have become more relevant. Although there are many theories that try to illustrate the concept of why crimes happen, no theory has a profound influence of understanding an individual’s nature, relationship, development, and a society itself (Coleman & Ganong, 2014). To further explain, “theories of crime are defined in relation to modernity, spanning their development from the enlightenment to the present, with the advent of postmodernism” (Miller, 2012, p. 1798). In other words, theories of crime are an approach to understanding an individuals behaviour and actions in their environment, society, and themselves that may lead to crime. Nevertheless, within this paper, it will be comparing the case of

Like all theories in criminology, victim precipitation ties in to how and why crime happens. While a majority of theories seem to concentrate mainly on the mannerisms and objectives of the offender, victim precipitation works toward understanding the interaction and/or relationship between the victim and the offender. According to this theory, the victim is looked at as a participant in the crime. This happens in one of two ways: first, the victim is the contributor in the crime who makes the first move; and second, the victim encourages or aggravates the offender into committing the crime. These are the main workings of the theory.

The history of victimology travels further back in time than most would realize. The concept of the victim emerged from the many attempts of many societies and peoples to explain both the reasons behind victimization and the appropriate action to be taken as a result of it (Burgess et al., 2013). As a concept, it can be difficult to define victimology, since each individual defines the term differently. According to the text utilized for this class, victimology is defined as being the study of the victim, including the offender and society. It is also seen as being a social-structural way of viewing the relationships between crime and the law as well as the criminal and the victim (Burgess et al, 2013)..