What is victimology: concept and subject of study

Greetings, friends!

Everyone knows that some people are much more likely to commit a crime than others. Factors such as a criminal history or dissocial personality disorder may contribute to this. But not everyone knows that there is another pattern: some people are more susceptible to crimes being committed against them. It turns out that the likelihood of becoming a victim depends on the characteristics of appearance, behavior, mood, condition and other factors.

To study how and why people become victims of crime, a separate science was created within the framework of criminology - victimology. Today it is an important and actively developing socio-psychological discipline. Its benefits are undeniable: the better we understand the behavior by which people bring disaster upon themselves, the fewer crimes against the individual will be committed - the most serious offenses in the criminal code of any country.

What is victimology?

Victimology is a scientific discipline that studies how people or groups of people become victims of crime. It examines the behavior of the victim and her relationship with the offender before the crime, at the time of its commission and after it. In addition, victimology studies the crisis states in which victims find themselves, determines the necessary assistance measures and finds ways to prevent repeated crimes.

Particular attention is paid to such aspects as:

• the victim’s place in the chain of events that ended in the crime against her;
• the relationship between the offender and the victim (both long-term and those that preceded the crime);
• sociological, moral, psychological and other characteristics of the victim;
• the behavior of the victim at the time the crime was committed against her and after it.

To finally understand what victimology is, let’s consider the basic concepts with which this science operates. These are “victim behavior”, “victimization” and “victimization”. All these terms are also derived from the Latin word “victima”, which means “sacrifice”. Let's look at the meaning of each of these concepts in more detail.

Victim behavior

These are all kinds of actions, statements and other actions by which a person increases the likelihood that a crime will be committed against him. Victim behavior can be considered a night walk in a desert area or presence at a disco in very conspicuous clothes. This category also includes violation of public order (there are often people in society who want to calm the bully down with brute force).

Victimization

Sometimes victimization is considered synonymous with the term “victim behavior,” but this concept also includes physical and mental states. Circumstances also play a role. For example, a person who returns home at night in a state of alcoholic intoxication is a victim. And beautiful girls are more likely to be sexually assaulted, so attractive appearance can also be considered a factor in victimization.

The state of victimization cannot be considered as a reason to share guilt between the criminal and the victim. The exception is situations when victimization was a consequence of an offense committed by the victim (for example, if a heavily drunk guy behaved defiantly, provoked a fight and was injured in it).

In most cases, the victim's victimization is not considered by the court as a mitigating circumstance for the offender. However, for public opinion it can become a reason for the so-called “victim blaming” - partial or complete shifting of blame onto the victim (this Anglicism has already become an established term in the Russian language, since it most accurately defines the meaning of this phenomenon).

By the way, victim blaming is a big problem in modern society. Most often, it manifests itself in public condemnation of victims of sexual violence (in the style of “It’s her own fault - there was no point in dressing up like that!”), as well as victims of domestic violence (“So she deserved it, because there is no smoke without fire!”).

Victimization

This is the name for the process of turning a victimized person into a victim. This process can be quite complex and take a long time from the first contact between the offender and the victim until the crime is committed. Victimization also includes the victim's reaction to the crime and subsequent events (including the victim blaming mentioned above, which is sometimes called “re-victimization”).

Victim psychology factors

The main categories of victimology that influence the nature of the crime have been identified by scientists relatively recently:

• Killers are attracted to people who are self-centered and not afraid to take risks. They differ in that they do not think about the consequences of their own actions. Often the future victim knows his killer. She is characterized by aggressiveness, conflict, and addiction to alcohol or illegal substances.
• The ideal victim of rapists is characterized by: promiscuity in acquaintances and internal immaturity as a person. Such people are infantile and have little experience in relationships with the opposite sex; they can be either overly modest or, on the contrary, attract everyone’s attention with shocking antics.
• Victims of scammers are determined by greed and gullibility.
• The domestic aggressor keeps his victim under constant influence, parasitizing on her feelings. The person suffering from his actions depends financially or physically; he can be any family member (wife, mother, child, cohabitant, etc.). As a rule, these are impressionable people with a weak will.

Considering that each case of violence is purely individual, psychologists were able to select some features inherent in the emotional state of the victim at the time of the crime.

What questions does victimology answer?

Victimology is a science that studies a wide range of issues. But the most important for her are the following:

1. What patterns are visible in the age, gender, social, personal, behavioral and other characteristics of victims of different types of crimes.
2. What daily, seasonal and other types of fluctuations are present in the crime structure of a particular region.
3. How do the circumstances under which a person capable of committing a crime comes into contact with a potential victim affect the likelihood of committing criminal acts?
4. How does the victim’s behavior influence the offender’s choice of a specific method of committing a crime?
5. How a potential criminal chooses a victim (how the selection process occurs, on what factors the result depends).
6. How to organize timely identification and protection of victimized persons.
7. What measures are necessary and appropriate to use in relation to victimized persons in order to ensure their safety. In certain situations, measures can be coercive (for example, if a person’s victimization is due to the fact that he grossly violates public order or deliberately provokes others with defiant behavior that is unacceptable in the given circumstances).
8. In what directions should research be conducted to find new ways to reduce crime by influencing the victimization of potential victims?

The science

What is victimology? There are three main definitions of this science:

1. Auxiliary for criminology. It is studied during the course of criminal law and criminology.
2. Independent victimology, as a science about the psychological characteristics of victims. The subject of her study is not only the victim of a criminal offender. The study includes individuals suffering from psychological pressure at home or at work.
3. Victimology defines one of the branches of criminology and does not exist as a separate science.

History of the development of victimology

Until the mid-20th century, it was believed that the likelihood of committing a crime depended only on the offender and the surrounding circumstances. But in 1948, Hans von Gentig’s book “The Criminal and His Victim” was published, in which the author first raised the issue of victimization. He described in sufficient detail various situations in which the predisposition of the victim to the crime committed against him was obvious. In particular, he noted that alcoholics and hooligans are more likely than others to receive serious bodily injuries in fights.

Soviet criminologists learned about victimology a little later. Its active popularization began in the late 1960s at the instigation of Lev Frank, who published a sensational article on this topic in 1966. The new approach assessed the motives of the criminal taking into account the profile of his target. This provided criminologists with greater opportunities, since it is much easier to study the victim (even when it comes to murder, you can interview friends and relatives, finding out what kind of person he was, what he wanted, how he communicated).

The purpose of knowledge

The concept and subject of victimology is characterized by the study of the influence of the psychological state of the victim on the attacker. The temperamental characteristics of the victim are called victimization. It turns out that a person initially has psychological properties, a predisposition to becoming a victim of crime. For example, victims of scammers tend to trust strangers, have poor understanding of life, are often greedy or low-income, and believe in omens.

How is the psychology of the victim different?

What is victimology in the victim-offender relationship? Why does a person suddenly become a victim of a crime? What behavior leads them to this sad outcome? Victimology identifies common features in the victim’s behavior:

1. Self-esteem. A person doesn’t love himself so much that it even shows outwardly. It is easy to identify such a person in a crowd. Unprepossessing, shabby clothes, unkempt appearance, dull eyes.
2. The desire to merge with the gray mass. The desire to be like everyone else and not stand out from the crowd is inherent in most immigrants from the Soviet Union, where mass participation and herd mentality were encouraged. As a rule, such people are afraid to be special and attract attention. The criminal senses this and can easily identify such a person in the crowd.
3. Inability to think and live without relying on outside opinions. This is typical for the majority; we are used to focusing on what people say. It is easy for such individuals to impose any opinion and subjugate them. These are chosen by aggressors who use drugs and alcohol.
4. Fear. Characteristic of domestic violence. Fear of loneliness, publicity, shame and much more. Fear makes a person tolerate and get used to violence. The vast majority of typical victims consider fear to be the norm in their lives.

Moreover, the ideal victim likes to be in this state constantly. It is very difficult to convey to a person that such a perception of reality is harmful and sometimes dangerous.

Doctrine of the Victim of Crime

Victimology (from the Latin victima - victim and logos - teaching) is a branch of criminology that studies the victim of a crime, namely: victimization (the process of becoming a victim of a crime), victimization (the predisposition to become the object of a criminal attack), as well as measures to reduce and prevent potential victims of crimes.

The first victimological studies in Russia were carried out in the mid-1960s. Among the domestic founders of victimology, it is worth mentioning L.V. Frank and D.V. Rivman. Post-Soviet and, in particular, Russian victimology deals primarily with crime victims as carriers of an individual or group ability to become victims of a criminal act. Western victimology studies, among other things, the relationship between victims and offenders, the interaction of victims and the criminal justice system—namely the police, courts, and correctional officers—and the connection of victims with other social groups and institutions such as the media, business, and social movements.

Objectives of victimology:

1) study of the causes and conditions of the origin and development of such a phenomenon as sacrifice;

2) study of the social, psychological, biophysical structure of all categories of victims;

3) identification and analysis of common characteristic elements for all categories of victims;

4) development of scientifically based practical recommendations for organizing general and individual prevention of potential victims;

5) development of theoretical and practical problems of compensation for harm to victims.

Branches of victimology:

1) tort victimology - the study of general knowledge about victims of crimes, victims of various offenses - misdemeanors;

2) traumatic victimology - the study of victims of accidents;

3) criminal victimology - the study of victims of criminal violence.

Helplessness

A person is constantly in this state. The eternal victim is characterized by the opinion that nothing in life depends on her, she cannot solve problems on her own. Psychologist M. Seligman defined the concept of learned helplessness. The acquisition of such a state occurs at the time of events that a person is not able to independently influence. The victim believes that she is not able to correct events, that everything that happens to her is an accident or a trick. His life does not depend on him. Moreover, a person can receive such a state into his “treasury of feelings” from others. If the society he is surrounded by has the same views, the victim easily succumbs to them. Encouragement is a negative way to get out of the victim state; the victim stops competing and loses initiative.

Which people are most likely to become victims?

A victim in psychology is an individual who has suffered from violence or deception for various reasons. A person can get into a difficult situation if he has a certain set of qualities. His character traits to some extent contribute to the fact that he himself becomes the cause of his misfortunes.

Who may become a victim:

• infantile personalities who have a poor understanding of people, suffer from excessive parental care, and judge strangers from books and films;
• self-centered people who love to humiliate others, demonstrating their own superiority to everyone;
• unbalanced people who abuse alcohol and often get into fights;
• individuals who do not have enough knowledge to recognize scammers;
• people who do not have their own opinion, strong convictions, looking for a strict but fair master;
• people experiencing financial problems;
• mentally ill people who derive pleasure from physical pain or moral humiliation.

Victimological prevention

In our country, there is very little statistical information about victims of crime, which makes it difficult to collect and develop methods for preventing victimized behavior. We can highlight some countries in the world where victimology is developing most intensively: the USA, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Italy. They actively develop not only theoretical problems of victimology, but also practical aspects of the victimological direction of crime prevention.

Thus, research centers in some US universities conduct research on various indicators of victimization of the population and organize special victimology clinics. In German police educational institutions, a special course on the basics of victimology is taught, lectures are given and seminars are held on the application of the provisions of this course in police practice. Victimology has also received a certain development in Japan, where victimological research is carried out by a comprehensive legal research institute and a police research institute, which have special laboratories of psychology and educational work that study the personality and behavior of victims, the damage suffered by them, and the forms of relationships between victims and offenders.

Attempts to protect people from criminal environments in foreign countries are even made through architectural planning. This is a fairly new direction, but has already received development. For example, in one of the areas of London (Stonebridge), the development features made it difficult for police officers to apprehend criminals. Soon, at the request of law enforcement agencies, the municipality decided to demolish a number of houses and redevelop Stonebridge. Architectural features that created a crime-prone landscape were eliminated, and residents of Stonebridge were allocated £1,000 by the Housing Ministry to equip each apartment in the block with an alarm system and other security measures.

Victim complex

Its appearance is influenced by experiences of events that form a negative psychological perception of the world. These could be critical situations, problems in your personal life, world disasters, catastrophes, losses and traumatic events. These are situations in which the victim reveals himself:

• Crime. Various types of crimes and attempted crimes, terrorist attacks.
• Violence. Both domestic and sexual.
• Abuse or additive behavior. Various types of addictions, submission to the influence of cults and groups.