1. Crime: Why and How Much?
VICTIMOLOGY: The Other Side of
Crime

2. Understanding Victimology
 Understanding victimology as well as criminal
behavior is an important aspect of
comprehending the criminal justice system.
Victimology is the study of victims and their
patterns of victimization. From this perspective,
the question is not why certain individuals (or
groups) engage in criminal behavior; instead, the
emphasis is on explaining why certain people (or
groups) experience victimization at certain times
and in certain places. Similarly, research on
criminal justice has focused on how offenders are
processed through the criminal justice system.
Victimologists, in contrast, examine the dynamics

3. The Demographics of Criminal
Victimization
 Like criminal
offending, criminal
victimization is not
randomly distributed
among the populace.
Patterns of
victimization show a
high degree of
consistency with
respect to where and
when they occur and
who is victimized.

4. The Demographics of Criminal
Victimization
Violent Crime Rates
 Individuals between the
ages of 12 and 24 have
the greatest chance of
becoming the victims of
crime, especially violent
crime. Generally, from
the early to mid-20s, as
one gets older, the rate
of victimization
decreases, with those
older than age 65
having the lowest rate
of victimization for all
crimes across gender
and race.

5. The Demographics of Criminal
Victimization
 Men are victimized at higher rates than
women are. For every offense except
sexual assault or rape and simple
assault, men have higher victimization
rates than women.
 Males report that they are almost as
likely to be victimized by someone
known to them (51%) as they are by
strangers (49%).

6. The Demographics of Criminal
Victimization
 Females most often are victimized by
someone they know. Females report
that more than three fourths (78%) of
those who violently victimize them are
known to them. Women are much more
likely to be violently victimized by family
members, spouses, boyfriends, or other
persons known to them. The relational
phenomenon is known as intimate
victimization.

7. The Demographics of Criminal
Victimization
 Violent victimization of women is more likely to
be repetitive and occurring over a period of time
rather than as an isolated event, a random attack
by a stranger, or a secondary consequence of
being a crime victim (i.e. a robbery victim who is
assaulted by the assailant.)
 Even when women are the offenders rather than
the victims, the data suggests that more than half
of the incidences in which women were arrested
for killing a male intimate partner were
precipitated by some sort of physical attack by
their victim or claims of self-defense.

8. The Demographics of Criminal
Victimization
 Blacks were victims of overall violence, robbery,
aggravated assault, and personal theft at rates
higher than those for Whites in 2003. Blacks and
Whites were equally likely to experience rape or
sexual assault in that same year.
 Native Americans experienced violence at a rate
significantly higher that all other races. Among
Native Americans age 25-34, the rate of violent
crime victimizations was more than 2 ½ times
the rate for all persons the same age. Between
1992-2001, Native Americans experienced
violence at rates more than twice that of Blacks, 2
½ times the rate of Whites, and 4 ½ times that of

9. The Demographics of Criminal
Victimization
 Hispanics were victims of overall violence at
about the same rate as non-Hispanics.
However, Hispanics were significantly more
likely to be victims of aggravated assault than
were non-Hispanics.
 In general, the wealthier a person is, the less
chance there is that he or she will be a victim
of violence. According to 2003 data, the
relationship between victimization and income
varies but is not consistent in all categories of
victimization.

10. Situational Characteristics of
Victimization
 Victimization is more likely to occur in places
where there is a high density of high-risk social
groups.
 Urban centers hold the bulk of those living at or
below the poverty level in in the United States,
and the victimization rate for cities reflects this
fact. In 2002, urban residents had a rate of
violent victimization nearly 1.5 times that of rural
residents. Suburban and rural residents were
victimized at similar rates.

11. Theoretical Explanations for
Victimization
 National data support the observation that crime
victimization is not random. If this is the case,
then what are the factors that influence who is
victimized and when the victimization occurs?
 Descriptive Data
 Theories
 Scholars who study victimization construct
theories to explain why some people are victims
and others are not.
 The two most prominent explanations as to the
cause of victimization are victim-precipitation
theories and lifestyle theories of victimization.

12. Victim-Precipitation Theories
 These theories are based
on the concept that
victims themselves
precipitate, contribute to,
provoke, or actually
cause the outcome.
These theories assume
that some crimes,
especially violent crimes,
are interactions, or
transactions, between
victims and offenders.
 Victim precipitation
means that the victim is
not simply an object

13. Three Facets of Victim-
Precipitation
 1. Victim Contribution: Victim Contribution
refers to a person’s actions or lack of action that
makes their victimization more likely.
 2. Victim proneness: This implies that some
individuals or groups have a quality that makes
them more likely to become victims of crimes.
This can also refer to the fact that some victims
are easy targets. For example, illegal immigrants
may be targeted because they cannot report
victimization to the police for fear of being
deported.
 3. Victim Provocation: The victim provocation
theory suggests that the victim is the primary
cause of his or her victimization.

14. Victim Provocation, continued…
 Marvin Wolfgang’s 1958 study of Philadelphia
homicides, taken from police records for the
years 1948 to 1952, brought the concept of
victim provocation into the mainstream of
criminological thought. Wolfgang found that,
in a significant proportion of criminal homicide
incidents (26 percent), the victim had actually
initiated the confrontation, either verbally or
through physical force.

15. Lifestyle Theories of Victimization
 These theories seek to explain why victimization can
differ in quantity but remain the same in quality.
 In cities being researched, it was found that youths
were at a much greater risk of victimization than
older persons, and men had substantially higher
rates of victimization than women.
 The researchers found that the following conditions
were met:
 The victim and offender had the opportunity to
come in contact with one another
 There was some dispute between the two
 The offender was willing to use force or stealth to
achieve his or her goal.
 The researchers believed that these factors were

16. Theory of Personal Victimization
 Lifestyle stands at the centerpiece of the theory of
personal victimization because it is the patterned
routines of a person’s everyday activities that
predict the chances of exposure to high-risk
situations.
 Differential association refers to the concept
that people who associate regularly with others
engaged in unlawful behavior are more likely to
be victimized because of their increased
exposure to high-risk situations and
environments.

17. Routine Activities Theory
 Another theory of victimization focuses on the
contexts of crime in the terms of the opportunities for
victimization. In 1979, Lawrence Cohen and
Marcus Felson developed an approach for analyzing
changes in the level of crime over time known as
routine activities theory.
 Like lifestyle theories, it recognizes the importance of
people’s everyday actions in an explanation for
criminal victimization . Routine activities theorists
assume that all humans are motivated by the desire
to have things that give them pleasure or benefit and
to avoid those things and situations that inflict pain.
Most important to the explanation for criminal
victimization, according to Cohen and Felson, are
the differential opportunities that exist for

18. Differential Opportunities
 Differential opportunities are
determined by the structure
of our everyday lives: the
time we leave home, the
route we take to work, our
mode of transportation, our
favorite places for
entertainment, and other
routines of contemporary
existence. Routine
activities theory focuses
on the circumstances in
which crime occurs.

19. Routine Activities Approach
 The routine activities approach to crime is limited
to an explanation for predatory crime. Cohen and
Felson define predatory crime as “acts
involving direct physical contact between at
least one offender and at least one person or
object which that offender attempts to take or
damage.”
 This theory is not limited to interpersonal offenses
such as assault, robbery, and rape. Property
offenses such as burglary and larceny are
considered predatory crimes as well.

20. Predatory Victimization
 Predatory victimization
depends on the interaction
of three variables in a
social situation:
 1. the presence of at least
one likely offender
 2. the presence of at least
one suitable target
 3. the absence of capable
guardians (who might
prevent the crime)

21. Routine Activities Theory

Criminal
Victimization
Social Space
Likely Offender
(Rational
Thinker)
Suitable Target
(Person or Thing)
EXIT
Capable GuardianCohen and Felson’s theory
emphasizes that crime does
not occur in a vacuum. In
other words, crime requires
the interaction of an offender
and a victim at a particular
time and place. Thus, the
lifestyle choices of a victim
play an important role in
whether or not a crime
occurs. Also, the presence of
a “capable guardian” may
prevent a crime from
occurring. In modern society,
many believe that video
surveillance cameras can act
as a “guardian” to deter
crime. As a result, video
surveillance of entire
metropolitan areas is
common.
The suitable target arrives
in the social space
through lifestyle
behaviors. The likely
offender arrives through
rational choices. The
opportunity for crime is
enhanced as the potential
guardian departs or is
absent from space.

22. Rational Choice Theory of Crime
 The key assumption of routine activities theory is
the idea that crime is motivated through rational
choice. Rational choice theory is based on the
fundamental belief that human behavior is
directed toward those things that bring pleasure
or benefit or that minimize painful, unpleasant
experiences.
 If rational choice theorists are correct, altering the
balance of costs and benefits for likely offenders
can reduce victimization. One way to do this is
called target hardening.

23. Target Hardening
 Target hardening is the foundation
for many popular crime-reduction
programs. Crime-prevention
programs, such as Neighborhood
Watch programs, programs to
increase the level of lighting in
streets and neighborhoods, and
surveillance cameras, are based
on the assumption that these
changes will cause the potential
criminal to reevaluate the risk of
committing a crime in these target-
hardened environments. Another
example of target hardening is
vehicles that have integrated
ignition-steering wheel locking
systems, antitheft alarms, built-in
global tracking devices, and
satellite-activated ignition cut-off
systems.

24. Target Hardening
 Target hardening is one of the
key components of defense
against terrorist attacks in the
United States. Particularly
attractive targets of terrorism –
such as commercial aviation,
nuclear reactors, federal
building, infrastructure (e.g.
bridges and tunnels), and
symbolic targets (e.g. famous
monuments and symbols of
government and business) –
have been examined for the
vulnerability, and additional
security measures have been
taken to make it more difficult
to attack these targets.

25. The Victim’s Rights Movement
 Several events were key to the emergence of the
victim’s rights movement.
 1960’s civil rights and women’s rights movements
 Governmental initiatives which increased awareness
and provided financial support for victim-assistance
programs.
 LEAA provided funds to assist in the
professionalization of law enforcement
 LEAA also provided funds for the support of
innovative programs to reduce crime and research to
evaluate the impact of these programs.
 The number of victim’s rights organizations
increased dramatically, and national coordinating
bodies such as the National Organization for Victim
Assistance (NOVA) were founded.

26. NOVA
 The accomplishments of
NOVEA, founded in 1976,
include helping to pass the
1984 Victims of Crime Act
and the 1982 Victim and
Witness Protection Act, both
of which provide counseling,
information, referrals , and
direct assistance to crime
victims, as well as support
and training to victim
advocates.

27. Victim’s Rights Movement
 Almost all legislative initiatives proposed by the
1982 President’s Task Force have been enacted.
 All 50 states have passed a crime victim’s bill of
rights, attempting to ensure that victims are
treated with dignity and compassion, are informed
about the decisions made regarding their cases,
and are able to participate in this decision
making.
 In 1982, the federal Victim and Witness
Protection Act established policies and
procedures regarding how federal officials should
treat crime victims and also served as a national
model for state legislation.

28. Crime Victim’s Rights Act
 The new law, known as the Crime Victim’s Rights
Act, is the most successful effort of the crime
victim’s rights movement to date.
 The law amends Title 18 (Part II, Chapter
25/Section 3771) of the Federal Criminal Code.
 Federal law now guarantees crime victims the
following rights:
 The right to be reasonably protected, notified,
present, and heard at various stages in the criminal
justice system
 The right to confer with the prosecutor
 The right to receive restitution
 The right to expect proceedings free from
unreasonable delay

29. “Victimless” crimes? Can There Be a
Crime Without a Victim?