The Five Victim Typologies

The five victim typologies are: primary victimization, secondary victimization, tertiary victimization, mutual victimization, and no victimization. Primary victimization is defined as victimization that is personal—i.e., the individual is the victim of a crime. A common example of primary victimization would be a targeted attack (such as an assault on the individual, with a motive being hatred or revenge); the individual is physically assaulted. Secondary victimization is when an individual is indirectly victimized (Meadows, 2007). An example of this would be if a person’s loved one is murdered: the murdered person is the primary victim and the loved one is the secondary victim. Tertiary victimization would be crimes against society as a whole: crimes that are felt by the whole of the community. An example of this might be when a government unjustly spies on its citizens. Mutual victimization occurs when the criminal is retaliated against. In this case, the criminal has a victim and then becomes a victim later as well. No victimization occurs in the case of victimless crimes, such as prostitution in which sex between consenting adults is paid for: there is no victim, but in many states this exchange is considered a crime.
The difference between criminology and victimology is that criminology is the study of crime and the criminal’s role in criminal activity while victimology is the study of the victim and the victim’s role in crime (Siegel, 2008). Criminology focuses on how criminal behavior is cultivated, how it is conducted, what causes it, and how it can be controlled. Victimology focuses on how victims experience crime, how they respond, and how their response plays a role in the spread or control of crime.
A current news article that describes the crimes of Harvey Weinstein examines the 84 accusers of the Hollywood producer and takes an approach to the subject that is closer to victimology than to criminology, as its focus is mainly on the victims in the crimes and their role in the crimes (Moniuszko & Kelly, 2017). In the story, one can identify each of the five victim typologies.
First, there is the primary victimization typology, which can be found among each of the 84 accusers, who accused Weinstein of sexual abuse or misconduct. They were the personal recipients of a sexual attack and thus were the direct victims in the crime. Their experience was personally felt by them as they themselves were the primary targets of the criminal.
Second, there is the secondary victimization typology, which can be found among the friends and loved ones both the Weinstein and the victims. They can be found in Weinstein’s own firm, for instance, which has been forced to close because of the negative publicity that Harvey has attracted. Then there are the families and friends of the victims who have been forced to cope with the suffering.
Third, there is the tertiary victimization which has been revealed in the wake of these crimes and has been given awareness thanks to the #metoo movement, which has shown that sexual abuse is rampant in industries—from entertainment to politics. Society as a whole is suffering from a culture of acceptance and looking the other way when it comes to rape and sexual abuse.
Fourth, there is the mutual victimization that is occurring as the reality is that Harvey has already been charged and tried and found guilty in the court of public opinion. No actual trial has taken place, but his reputation has already been destroyed. Women like Rose McGowan have, in a sense, struck back at the criminal and caused him to be a victim of their public scorn, which has been amplified via social media. He has lost his business, his friends, his social standing, and is essentially a pariah (and has even been physically attacked while trying to dine in a public restaurant).
Fifth, it is possible that there is even the no victimization typology in this crime. It could turn out that all of the accusers actually consented to sex and later regretted it. In such a case, it would be argued by Harvey’s defense team that there was no victim in these instances. A court would have to establish the veracity of this claim, however.
The case of Harvey Weinstein as told in the story published by USA Today, takes the victimology approach as it focuses primarily on Harvey’s victims and does not get into the details of his role in the crimes as much as it does into their roles in the crimes. It looks at how the victims behaved, how they responded, and what they have done since the crimes.
In conclusion, victimology is the study of the victim’s experience in crime and the role that the victim plays. Victims can be more than those who are directly touched by a crime. They can be those who are indirectly touched, and they can be society as a whole that must address the issues that the crime reveals. They can even be the criminals themselves if they are retaliated against, which is certainly the case with Harvey Weinstein. There can also even be found that there was in reality never a victim because of whatever circumstances were actually in place at the time of the alleged crime. For instance, if sex was consensual rather than forced as the victims have claimed. Looking into this case in more detail will help to illuminate the roles that the victims have played, and so this case makes a good one for the study of victimology. It could also be viewed from the standpoint of criminology, however, if Harvey himself and his actions and behaviors were to be the sole subject of a serious study.

References
Meadows, R.J. (2007) Understanding violence and victimization, 4th ed. Upper
Saddle, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Moniuszko, S. & Kelly, C. (2017). Harvey Weinstein scandal: A complete list of the 84
accusers. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2017/10/27/weinstein-scandal-complete-list-accusers/804663001/
Siegel, L. J. (2008). Criminology: The Core, 3rd Ed. Belmont, CA: Cengage.