Victimology

The fields of criminology and criminal justice have focused, historically, on understanding criminal offending in comparison with criminal victimization. However, a variety of paradigm shifts, scientific advances, and social and political forces since the 1960s and 1970s provided a foundation from which theories of victimization emerged. For instance, in the latter half of the 20th century, a shift occurred among many scholars toward viewing “crime” as more than just the behavior of an offender. Instead, crime became increasingly viewed as a “system,” involving not only an offender but also a target or victim, as well as a time/place context that ;supports or facilitates the victimization of the target by the offender. Alongside this new paradigm, new sources of information about crime emerged, addressing limitations of data compiled from police reports (reported annually in the form of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program). Specifically, the early 1970s marked the emergence of the...

When the novel The Silence of the Lambs was published, it became a best-seller. When the movie was made, it packed the theaters and received numerous Academy Awards. People flocked to the cinema to see the riveting performances of Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. The character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter was suddenly known everywhere, parodied on television comedy programs and the talk of the town. Hannibal Lecter, as portrayed by Hopkins, captured the public’s imagination. Why? Americans, Brits, and Russians, along with nearly all of the rest of the world, have made heroes out of not only fictional serial killers but the real serial killers among us. While their numerous victims lie in their graves, serial killers can still send the press into high gear. They are still remembered years after their crimes. Books, articles, and the press continue to produce copious amounts of ink, hanging on every word these killers say,

THE DEVELOPMENT OF VICTIMOLOGY

The second half of the twentieth century saw the development of social concern, protest, activism, intervention, legal, political, and social services reform, research, and teaching about victims of crime. In some countries, the victim movement became an important separate political force leading to substantial reforms in many fields. It is particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world that the movement began and flourished, expanding eventually to other parts of the world. In the United States, the victim movement began in the 1970s. The women’s movement, inspired by the civil rights movement, was one of its primary moving forces. Another was the social concern about the dramatic increase in crime rates in the United States. Conservatives and right-of-center activists and politicians pointed out that the system of constitutional protections in the United States favored the suspect and the convicted criminal while it trampled on the needs of...