To study the financial, physical, and emotional trauma that people suffer because of illegal activities is called victimology. Victimologists, also known as social scientists, investigate the role the victims play in a crime. To do their work these scientists have to be unbiased in face of conditions where it can be hard to separate personal emotions from the crime committed. Social scientists are often faced with a plethora of circumstances that could compromise their ability to be truly objective. The factors that could potentially cloud a social scientists ' judgment include their own personal experience when it comes to crime, their lack of personal experience when it comes to the crime, and the social environment they live in. A social scientist personal experience with a crime can, in my opinion, be the hardest factor in which to overcome and stay objective. Their personal involvement with the crime can cause them to lose sight of their objectivity and have their own prejudices show in their work. When a victimologist suffers through a crime such as a robbery or rape their views and other aspects of their personality can be altered due to the traumatic situation they were a part of. Social scientists that suffer at the hands of illegal affairs can obtain tunnel vision and only focus on the victims point of view, because they know have a sentimental tie towards the victim as the scientist and victim went through the same event. Having personal experience with crimes
When criminologists build criminal profiles, they think about how the killer gained access to the victim, what the killer did to the victim, if the killer tried to cover his or her tracks and how, what about the victim attracted the killer to target them, and what motive or fantasy drove the killer to hurt the victim how and where they did.
society. Central to their study of crime is the attempt to understand why people break
What advantages does a concept of ‘social harm’ hold for the criminologist over that of ‘crime’?
The collection of all this data allows for theoretical explanations by criminologists on the social interactions between the victim and the offender(s).
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:
In a criminal investigation case, a victim is usually seeking justice for an offence against them personally. Victims can
What advantage does a concept of ‘social harm’ hold for the criminologist over that of ‘crime’?
Criminologist have been working hard to characterize the people who are capable of committing crimes that are based only on the characteristics of another person or group, and they have been able to empower people who live in specific neighborhoods that have been set up for targeting and often experiences the effects of hate crimes (Criminal Justice,
Secondly, the physical aspects of the victim are important as well; is the victim is heavy, and was dragged for a long distance, it can be surmised that the criminal is strong and may have a muscular appearance. (Patterson) Victimology is first and foremost an investigative tool, providing context, connections, and investigative direction. (Turvey) Some people may ask, “Why profile the victim?” but profiling the victim is a very important element that helps profilers better understand the criminal. Profilers look at the general lifestyle and activities of the victim in order to know who had access to them and when. Knowing the victim and properly profiling them may establish a relational link between the victim and criminal. When profiling a victim it is important to look at them as a real person as well as a victim. Some investigators and detectives have a tendency to deify or vilify the victim in a case. Deification involves idealizing victims. For example,
This paper discusses the different roles that are taken on by a forensic psychologist, and how those roles interact and affect each other and how the psychologist is about to do his/her job. It looks briefly at the history of the field. We discuss the forensic psychologist as the consultant, the therapist, the researcher, as well as the expert witness. This paper also discusses predicting dangerousness and whether or not an expert can predict dangerousness. Finally we look at conflicting roles and ethics in the field.
The psychologist contributes to investigations criminal behavior by profiling and similar techniques. The criminal psychologist can also assist with pretrial methods. This subsection is highly important because it includes the evaluation and treatment of suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime. The primary task of the forensic psychologist profiling. Psychological profiling involves “investigating an offender's behavior, motives and background in an attempt to further guide an investigation…,” (APA). There are several different areas of profiling that the professionals do in the field. In criminal profiling the psychologist analyzes the emotional, mental disposition of a suspect. While remaining as a slightly controversial technique, profiling has become an increasingly prominent part of criminal investigation. When used properly it has the capacity of being one of law enforcement’s most powerful tools.
Criminology is more on the study of the crime itself, the study of criminal behavior and to the study of why criminal commit the crime and what the reasons behind committing the crime. Victimology is the study of the relationship between the victims and the criminals, to the interactions between the victims and the criminal justice system, and to the, social and how it deals with crime victims(Daigle,2012).
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.
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 dates back to the early 1940’s. Marvin Wolfgang was one of the first victimologists. To fully understand victimology is to understand what a victim is. A victim is a person that has suffered physical or emotional harm