Crim 3

Human Behavior and

Victimology
BY:
ARNOLD A. ABAYON, RCRIM
Importance of Studying Victimology In
The Field Criminology
 Victimology is important not only to educate citizens about behaviors
that place them at risk for becoming victims, but it also helps those
working in criminal justice, law enforcement and mental health better
assist victims.
 Victimology gives these psychology professionals a better
understanding of those relationships and the psychological
impact of crime, which can help them provide more effective feedback
and, ultimately, reduce recidivism.
 Victimology provides a perspective that allows professionals to
better communicate with victims and earn trust from their
communities.
 Victimology

 Branch of criminology that scientifically studies the relationship between an

injured party and an offender by examining the causes and the nature of the
consequent suffering.
 Victimology is the study of crime victims. It’s a subset of criminology, the study of
crime.
 People who study victimology, or victimization, examine the psychological effects
of crimes on the victims, the interactions between victims and the criminal justice
system and the relationships between victims and offenders.
 Modern theories of victimology try to explain why some are more likely than other
to become victims of a crime.
Victim blaming

 Refers to the perception that victims are culpable or

responsible for their own fates. Attributions of responsibility
typically focus on an action or behavior of the victim that
increases the risk of victimization.
 Itoccurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is
held entirely or partially responsible for the harm that
befell them.
Victim Blaming
 One reason people blame a victim is to distance themselves from an unpleasant occurrence
and thereby confirm their own invulnerability to the risk. By labeling or accusing the victim,
others can see the victim as different from themselves. People reassure themselves by
thinking, "Because I am not like her, because I do not do that, this would never happen to
me." We need to help people understand that this is not a helpful reaction.

Why is it Dangerous?
 Victim-blaming attitudes marginalize the victim/survivor and make it harder to come
forward and report the abuse. If the survivor knows that you or society blames her for the
abuse, s/he will not feel safe or comfortable coming forward and talking to you.
 Victim-blaming attitudes also reinforce what the abuser has been saying all along; that it is
the victim’s fault this is happening. It is NOT the victim’s fault or responsibility to fix the
situation; it is the abuser’s choice. By engaging in victim-blaming attitudes, society allows the
abuser to perpetrate relationship abuse or sexual assault while avoiding accountability for
his/her actions.
 Theories of Victimization
 As a method of countering the problem of crime, and
of dealing with the numerous victims left in their
wake, criminologists turn to the study of victims and
their relationship to the criminal act.
 While caring and understanding the pain and anguish
of the victim and their circle of social influence is of
essential, as is providing treatment and counseling;
criminologists now view the role of the victim in the
criminal process as imperative to understanding the
crime itself.
 Studying and researching victimology helps in gaining
a better understanding of the victim, as well as the
criminal, and how the crime may have been
precipitated.
1. Victim Precipitation Theory
 The victim precipitation theory suggests that the characteristics of the victim precipitate the crime.
 Analyzes how a victim's interaction with an offender may contribute to the crime being committed.
 It concerns situations where a victim's negligence or carelessness makes them more vulnerable to a crime.
  This theory views victimology from the standpoint that the victims themselves may actually initiate the
criminal act that ultimately leads to injury or death either passively or actively.  
1.1. Passive
 During this precipitation, the victim unconsciously exhibits behaviors or characteristics that instigate or
encourage the attack.
Examples:
 The horrifying practice of lynching (hate crime) that was carried out by Americans against people of African
origins, due to racism.
 One employee is passed over for a promotion that is offered to his/ her colleague (victim). This motivates him to
physically harm or spread rumors about the victim.
 Two men competing for the love of the same woman may indulge in antagonistic acts towards each other.
 The act of terrorism against a select community of people.
 1.2. Active
 Victimization under this theory occurs through the threatening or provocative
actions of the victim.
Example:
 A woman kills her husband due to a prolonged history of regular domestic violence.
 In the midst of a heated argument, the victim physically lashes out at the offender,
causing him to shove or hit the victim so hard that he/she falls and gravely injures
himself/herself.
 Constant derogation and humiliation of an employee, in public, by the employer,
causes the employee to lash out and physically harm the employer.
 A drunken man engages in eve-teasing a woman, keeps chasing her, and eventually
tries to get physical with her. In desperation, the woman reaches for any sharp object
she can find and stabs the man.
2. Lifestyle Theory of Victimization
This theory purports that individuals are targeted based on their lifestyle choices,
and that these lifestyle choices expose them to criminal offenders and situations in
which crimes may be committed.
Examples
 Walking alone at night in a dangerous area
 living in "bad" parts of town
 Conspicuously wearing expensive jewelry,
 Leaving doors unlocked and
 associating with known criminals are other lifestyle characteristics that may lead
to victimization.
 excessive alcohol use and doing drugs.
Features:
According to lifestyle theory, people become victims of
crime because they do not exercise intelligent or rational choice
when putting themselves in social situations.
In general, such social situations refer to the peer group,
friends, social world and environment.
Criminologist Larry Siegel holds that such things as an all-
male peer group, urban environments, weapons-carrying and
excessive partying are all tightly correlated with becoming
victims of crime.
Function:

Lifestyle theory places the reality of victimization

in the choices of the person.
As a result, this falls under the category of a
"rational choice" theory.
This means that crime, whether in its commission
or victimization, is based on the choices of both groups.
People put themselves in harm's way when they
mix with the wrong people and in the wrong situations.
Benefits

Lifestyle theory holds that if a person changes his

life choices, he will become less likely to be victimized.
For example, a person can change friends, move to
a rural area and stop going to bars.
This, according to this approach, will lessen the
chances of the person's becoming a victim. Lifestyle
changes, in short, can reduce crime risk.
Effects

 While stressing choice, this approach also stresses social life.

 Social life, this theory implies, is itself a set of choices.
 Crime is then based on victims who deliberately put
themselves in harm's way by identifying with those people or
situations prone to crime.
 For example, if one decides to go to bars regularly, this
means that the home is often empty, and the car in places where
intoxicated people gather. This is an invitation to crime.
Considerations
While lifestyle theory deals with victims, "routine activities" theory
deals with criminals. These two theories are nearly identical, with the
only difference being the points of view. Routine-activities theory holds
that for a crime to be committed, three things need to be present.
1. a suitable target
2. criminal motivation
3. lack of deterrence. This lack of deterrence can be as simple as a lack of
policemen in the area. But more significantly, it refers to a lack of a social
structure that would deter crime.
Three General Categories That Describe The Level
of Risk of Victim’s Lifestyle

1. High-Risk Victims
 Victims in this group have a lifestyle that makes them a higher risk for
being a victim of a violent crime.
 The most obvious high-risk victim is the prostitute. Prostitutes place
themselves at risk every single time they go to work.
 They are of high risk because they get into a stranger's car, go to
secluded areas with strangers, and for the most part, attempt to
conceal their actions for legal reasons.
2. Moderate-Risk Victims

 Victims that fall into this category are lower risk victims, but for
some reason were in a situation that placed them in a greater level
of risk.
 A person that is stranded on a dark, secluded highway due to a
flat tire and accepts a ride from a stranger and is then victimized
would be a good example of this type of victim level risk.
3. Low-Risk Victims

 The lifestyle of these individuals would normally not place them

in any degree of risk for becoming a victim of a violent crime.
 These individuals stay out of trouble, do not have peers that are
criminal, are aware of their surroundings, and attempt to take
precautions so as not to be victimized.
 They lock the doors, do not use drugs, and do not go into areas
that are dark and secluded.
3. Routine Activity Theory of Victimization

 Routine activity theory is a sub-field of crime opportunity theory that

focuses on situations of crimes.
 It was first proposed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen in their
explanation of crime rate changes in the United States between 1947 and
1974.
 Routine activities theory requires three elements be present for a crime to
occur: a motivated offender with criminal intentions and the ability to act on
these inclinations, a suitable victim or target, and the absence of a capable
guardian who can prevent the crime from happening.
 These three elements must converge in time and space for a crime to occur.
 This theory includes the routine activities of both offender and victim.
 An offender may routinely walk-through specific neighborhoods
looking for homes that appear as easy targets for burglary or into
buildings in a commercial area to seek opportunities for theft.
 Because in many families all adults work, homes are often unoccupied
during the day, which can become suitable targets for burglary.
“Neighborhood Watch” and alarm systems can prevent crime.
 Commercial buildings without access controls or other security
methods, likewise, can become suitable targets. A capable guardian
can be ordinary people who can intervene or serve as witnesses, or
police or security personnel.
4. Deviant Place Theory of Victimization
 The deviant place theory states that greater exposure to dangerous places
makes an individual more likely to become the victim of a crime (Seigel, 2006).
 Unlike the victim precipitation theory, the victims do not influence the
crime by actively or passively encouraging it, but rather are victimized as a
result of being in "bad" areas.
 In other words, a mugger is more likely to target a person walking alone
after dark in a bad neighborhood. The more frequently a person ventures into
bad neighborhoods where violent crime is common, the greater the risk of
victimization.
 In order to lower the chance that one will become the victim of a crime,
the individual should avoid the "bad" areas of town where crime rates are high.
5. Differential
Association Theory

 Edwin Sutherland coined the phrase

differential association to address the issue
of how people learn deviance.
 According to this theory, the
environment plays a major role in deciding
which norms people learn to violate.
 The theory holds that, criminal
behavior is learned in the same way that
law-abiding values are learned, and that,
this learning activity is accomplished, in
interactions with others, and the situational
definitions we place on the values.
6. Anomie Theory

 The idea of anomie means the lack of normal ethical or social standards. This concept first
emerged in 1893, with French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Normlessness is a state where the
expectations of behavior are unclear, and the system has broken down.
 Normlessness (or what Durkheim referred to as anomie) “denotes the situation in which the
social norms regulating individual conduct have broken down or are no longer effective as rules for
behaviour”.
 Durkheim's theory was based upon the idea that the lack of rules and clarity resulted in
psychological status of worthlessness, frustration, lack of purpose, and despair.
 In criminology, the idea of anomie is that the person chooses criminal activity because the
individual believes that there is no reason not to.
  For example, if society does not provide enough jobs that pay a living wage so that people can
work to survive, many will turn to criminal methods of earning a living. So for Merton, deviance,
and crime are, in large part, a result of anomie, a state of social disorder.
 7. Control Theory

 According to Walter Reckless's

control theory, both inner and outer
controls work against deviant tendencies.
 People may want—at least some of
the time—to act in deviant ways, but
most do not. They have various restraints:
internal controls; such as conscience,
values, integrity, morality, and the desire
to be a "good person"; and outer controls,
such as police, family, friends, and
religious authorities.
 8. Labeling Theory

A type of symbolic interaction, labeling

theory (by Howard Saul Becker) concerns the
meanings people derive from one another's
labels, symbols, actions, and reactions.
 This theory holds that behaviors are deviant
only when society labels them as deviant.
 Labeling theory states that people come to
identify and behave in ways that reflect how
others label them. This theory is most commonly
associated with the sociology of crime since
labeling someone unlawfully deviant can lead to
poor conduct.
9. Social Strain Theory

The theory (by Robert K. Merton)

states that society puts pressure on
individuals to achieve socially accepted
goals (such as the American dream),
though they lack the means.
This leads to strain which may lead
the individuals to commit crimes,
examples being selling drugs or
becoming involved in prostitution, to
gain financial security.
Thank You
for
Listening !