Victim Precipitation

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:

N., Tomsich, E., Gover, A. R., & Jennings, W. G. (2016)). As Mrs. Whitfield was going through college she would have various flash backs of her childhood. 25% of women and 15% of men have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) before the age of 25. It was often said that college students who have been involved in DV struggles academically, transfer institutions, or just drop out completely. Mrs. Whitfield would be labeled as a victim-offender because she was once a victim and now she is the offender. “Research on the victim-offender overlap observes this trend across delinquency, property crimes, and violent offenses, with the relationship between victimization and offending being strongest for violent crimes, particularly homicide” (Jennings et al., 2012). This would explain why Mrs. Whitfield had expressed that she killed her ex-husband because she caught him cheating and it was with a white woman. She witnessed her mother killing her father because he had cheated on her with a colleague. It has been shown in a study that females were offending equal to or greater than males. Physical maltreatment increases the risk for violence later on in life. Children who have witness and/or experienced the direct benefits of

Throughout the world, we hear many stories about individuals being victimized, and individuals who have are the perpetrators. Also, many of these news segments are based off of headed situations between intimate relationships. Many relationships become this way because of stress about work, paying bills, past circumstances, and much more. There are many micro and macro level risk factors that pertain to victims (prior history of intimate partner violence, female sex, and youth), and perpetration (anger issues, low self-esteem, low income, and depression). “These factors are some of the very important factors that shape victimization and perpetration in intimate partner violence” (Seccombe, 2015, p.318).

Abuse of vulnerable people in most parts of the world needs to be stopped because it falls under the protection of human rights as It is fundamental right for all people to living a life

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

Domestic violence perpetrators that become involved in the criminal justice system are overwhelmingly male offenders between the ages of 18 and 35 years old. Data from studies conducted in the United States have revealed that a significant amount of male abusers have had some type of previous contact with the criminal justice system. It should be noted that this contact includes positive and negative encounters. Since abusers come from all walks of life, they can be respected law-abiding members of their communities or unpopular individuals with a criminal history. There are no set standards or explicit personality traits that wholly identify abusers. However, researchers have identified certain indicators and risk factors that may predispose one to become an abuser (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009).

They stated that some victims may not be forthcoming with reporting again because they may feel that the criminal justice system did not help with preventing reabuse. Also victims of repeated victimzations may have already had their partner arrested or a restraining order put on them. "Despite their intervention, the victim was revictimized" (Buzawa et al., 2012). As we see in "Till Death Do Us Part" the different stories of victims that took legal action to stop the violence that they lived in everyday, but it did not stop the offender. There needs to be more attention given to the victims and what they need in order to try to prevent further abuse. Repeat victimzations accounts for a huge part in all crimes (Analyzing repeat victimizations, 2015). One of the things that can be use to help stop revictimizations that is a time frame that can help. Domestic violence is one of the highest of crimes that is predictable to repeat over again. Estimate repeated victimzations for domestic violence is about 44% (Analyzing repeat victimizations,

The first victimization theory is victim precipitation. According to Dr. Marvin Wolfgang, some people may initiate confrontation, provoking the offender, which could eventually lead to his or her death or injury. (Siegel 78) During his research, he concludes that victims are not entirely innocent or blameless. Consequently, the victim sets into motion their own victimization using confrontation. These precipitations are performed in one of two ways, active or passive. Both have strengths and weaknesses.

This theory believes that an individual will choose criminal behavior by “free will” after weighing out the rewards and benefits verses the consequences or punishment for their behavior (Gosselin, 2005). In essence, the abuser will choose domestic violence as a means to the end since they feel control and domination is necessary in order to coexist within personal relationships. On the other hand, if the offender believes the risks outweigh the ability achieve personal gain, control, or satisfaction, he or she may choose not to commit the abuse (Schacter, et al., 2009). I believe this theory explains the restraint an abuser displays when they carefully select the type of abuse administered to their victims and the length of time they choose to enact the abuse. Most abusers will not openly abuse their victims in front of others in order to deter detection. Detection is not an option for most abusers, since they are familiar with the consequences of their actions.

“The key characteristics of positivist victimology can be described as, the identification of factors which contribute a non-random pattern of their own victimisation, a focus on interpersonal crimes of violence and a concern to identify victims who may have contributed to their own victimisation.”

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.”

The victim precipitation theory, also referred to as the victim precipitation approach, hypothesizes that victims of violent crimes and sexual assault put themselves in harm's way through their own actions. Criminal assailants and their victims are often referred to as penal couples. This concept views the victim as a participant in the crime because her presence provides the offender with the opportunity to commit the offense. (https://www.reference.com)

Equivalent group hypothesis suggests that victims and offenders are one and the same. That they are both part a high-risk lifestyle.

Patterns and repetition of the average normal life can also lead to victimization. (Schmalleger, 2015) People are creatures of habit. An attacker can easily access an individual’s weakness through the repetitious daily activities and the frequency of the transaction. The frequency, type of activity, the location, and the specific times can open an individual to the high risk of victimization. The next theory introduces itself because of a specific location.

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