Introduction
Victimology is a criminology branch focused on exploring the link between a victim and the offender by examining the causes and the extent of suffering the injured person underwent. In other words, victimology presses on whether the perpetrator was a stranger, an acquaintance, friend, or family member and the reason why a particular individual was targeted. Criminal victimization creates economic implications and makes physical and psychological harm escalate beyond a person’s control. Victimology developed in the 1950s when various criminologists investigated the interactions between victims and offenders, focusing on reciprocal influences and reversing the roles (Moriarty & Jerin, 2017). Knowing and understanding victimology is key since it highlights various issues that may be used in the criminal justice system, such as retaliation, self-defense, and verdict on a given issue.
Personal position on victimology
Victimology is a useful addition to criminal justice and can prevent victimization. The reason is that victimology helps criminologists to understand issues associated with a breach of law by perpetrators to victims and hence, applying it in leveraging criminal justice during respective legal proceedings or situations. In this case, victimology helps prevent further crime, helps prepare law enforcement professionals on how to encounter victims, and enables corrections which are key in reducing recidivism. Additionally, victimology helps criminologists to have guidelines in forensic interviews designed to ensure accuracy depending on the research done between the offender and the victim.
When victimology is applied in the justice system, it ensures there is sensitivity to crime, the doer of the crime, the person affected by the crime, and the social reaction to the crime, which determines victimization. A person critical in victimology curls any possible profiling of an individual that may lead to prejudice, influencing the outcome of a case. In Galatians 3:28, the bible says that “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Lee, 2022, p. 351). That means all people are equal and can be criminals depending on what does. Therefore, victimization should be dealt with by basing biblical teaching on the concept of victimology.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Position
Strengths
The position is strong since it applies a holistic approach towards crime, doer, victim, and reaction. That means it aligns with evidence-based practices when it comes to legal perspectives. For instance, Daniel and Roxanna (2022) argue that during victimology, criminologists review whether the accused is predestined, predisposed, or recidivist victim and whether there are any stereotypes involved that may profile the person that way. That means the phenomenon checks the possibility of wrongful accusations or random allegations that may make one suffer legal punishment (Daniel & Roxanna, 2022). The position tallies with the call for review of the commission of a crime. In this case, victimology allows research on factors that may have caused a crime, such as reaction or overreaction and environmental stimuli.
The position is strong because it covers the reaction part, which means it adheres to principles that may affect victimization and incorporate biblical teaching of prosecuting criminals by their deeds. That means criminologists have to study the level of suffering of the offended and measure the reliability of what they are saying and whether there was any catalyst. For instance, the determination of a rape case may investigate whether the victim might have engaged in person-to-person affection in an enclosed space and if there was a disagreement that may have occurred, making matters go sour. In that case, the nature of the victim’s suffering is established to determine the chances they might have had towards personal liability. “In other words, violence is, in part, situationally determined – the result of events and circumstances that cause a conflict to escalate.” (Fattah, 2019, p. 75). That quote insinuates that violent actions may be facilitated by interaction between various parties, and that can only be revealed if a scientific understanding of the law is applied.
Weaknesses
Victimology is a vast phenomenon that may lead to controversy depending on how it is approached. The weakness of the position is that it does not reveal the temporal and spatial patterns that may cause one to breach the law. The reason is that the argument is more of an impact on the involved parties while overlooking a long-term solution that can be fostered in the community to prevent similar occurrences (Qureshi, 2021). The position has ignored the dynamic forces that may shape and positively influence an offender’s behavior during a particular altercation.
Criminology incorporates abnormalities and psychopathy perspectives that determine criminal behavior. A person new in criminology may take time to understand why retaliatory behaviors result from a reaction to prior victimization and provocation. When it comes to the victimology’s prevention of victimization, the position is significantly static since it only links someone’s attributes to the commission of a crime (Fattah, 2019). The position insinuates that victimization comes from reactions to the aggressiveness and rate of rage that inspired them to offend the other. That means there is disregard for varying traits that are determined by situations.
Supporting the Position
Some empirical perspectives agree with the position that victimology is key in criminal justice and the prevention of victimization. Hooper and Masters (2017) argue that victim is an objective term influenced by statements of values that analyze how a crime occurred. That means a crime can occur due to the offender’s disregard of the law or victim precipitation. By bringing the idea of victim precipitation, the authors mean that various crimes can be triggered by the complainant hence, it is important to incorporate positivist victimology (Hooper and Masters, 2017). That calls for legal measures that can lead to understanding how the crime occurred before taking a side or profiling a person as a perpetrator. For instance, Marvin Wolfgang’s research found that 26% of 588 homicides reported in Philadelphia had a victim trigger the event (Das, 2020). Due to that study, the position that victimology helps in the criminal justice field is supported since leveraging issues that need legal determination will be guided by information about actions and reactions that made a crime surface.
Victimology is important in preventing the victimization of offenders before a final determination of their case. Fattah (2019, p. 79) says, “The transformation of victims into victimizers is an intriguing, though largely ignored phenomenon. Examples of the passage from the state of the victim to the state of offender abound.” By that statement, the audience can learn that the roles of victim or victimizer are not assigned in a fixed or static way. Rather, there could be aspects of violent reaction which is legitimate though termed as ‘crime’ by the law. Exploring all the factions of an occurrence that led to crime reduces the chances of victimization since there will be no specific prejudice that shall emerge before final determination. The position has clearly stated that victimology is important in guiding criminologists’ courses of action as far as the victim and perpetrators are concerned (Moriarty & Jerin, 2017). Thus, an offender may feel less injustice and victimization when a critical analysis of an event made them be accused.
Other arguments oppose the position in this essay due to the lapse that victimology has shown in particular contexts. Qureshi (2021) says that victimology does not give a definite solution in criminology due to focusing on the victim and offender instead of delving into the major facts about the crime, which may breed a culture of similar offenses. That means victimology may inspire impunity, especially in cases requiring no conflict of interest. Matthews (2021) explains that victimization may not be curled through victimology due to the underlying perceptions in society that the desire to commit a crime is by malice and lack of moral cores that may restrict one from breaching the law.
Recommendations
- There should be a holistic understanding of the offender, victim, crime, and social reaction perspectives when handling criminal cases so that the determination will have a concrete foundation based on the rule of law (Moriarty & Jerin, 2017).
- The criminal justice system must incorporate victimology by assessing factors that probed crime to avoid wrongful incarcerations and recidivism.
- Research is needed to unite empirical perspectives with evidence-based practices that deal with victimology and victimization so that no party will be legally subjected to severe punishments (Hooper & Masters, 2017).
- Legal systems must sensitize victimology to develop an awareness of important courses of action that will determine a particular case.
- Before indulging in victimology to criminologists, governments should alter any possible criminal breeding culture by providing programs that help foster a positive reaction in case one is offended. For instance, anger management would ensure that people do not find themselves at the receiving end of the criminal justice system (Qureshi, 2021). That means the scientific study of the link between the perpetrator and the complainant would be easy to undertake with all parties legally informed of their actions.
References
Daniel, N., & Roxanna, D. (2022). Navigating the criminal justice system. Experiences of Criminal Justice, 7(2), 172–202. Web.
Das, A. (2020). No justice in The shadows: How America criminalizes immigrants. Bold Type Books.
Fattah, E. A. (2019). Victimology: A discipline in transition: Critical insights and unconventional views. Sage.
Hooper, M., & Masters, R. (2017). The Criminal Justice System. Salem Press.
Lee, J. (2022). The Golden Rule, humanity, and equality: Shu and Ren in Confucius’ teachings and beyond. Dao, 21(3), 347–368. Web.
Matthews, R. A. (2021). The victimology of State crime. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 5(2), 72–77. Web.
Moriarty, L. J., & Jerin, R. A. (2017). Current issues in victimology research. Carolina Academic Press.
Qureshi, D. (2021). Witness protection: An imperative for criminal justice. Journal of Victimology and Victim Justice, 4(2), 197–208. Web.