The rise of victimology and victim blaming in criminal justice

Victim blaming is one demeaning and devaluing act of putting the victim of a crime as being responsible, in part or in full for a crime or harm that actually affects them. It portrays the victim as being responsible for their own harm caused by another person. The blame emanates in the form of unexpected or negative social responses from the mental health, legal, medical professionals. This negative response can also be from the media or the immediate family as well as other friends and people he relates to. The responses towards victims of crime are often founded on the misunderstood positions taken by others, especially the outside spectators. This lack of understanding will then lead the observers to believe that the victim actually deserved to have faced the harm that befell them, or categorizes them as individuals with low self-esteem who are out to intentionally look for violence. These blames and unfriendly social conditions often make it difficult for the victims to cope with conditions for which they are blamed.

The act of victim blaming has adverse effects on the victim and the society. It leads the victims not being interested in reporting further similar crimes hence increase in such crimes in the society. The victims who are blamed get distressed hence less likely to report such further crimes since they fear getting into secondary victimization through blame on similar crimes. This stand by the victim will also negatively affect the willingness of witnesses to testify, the zeal of the authorities to execute effectively cases and pursuing offenders, will also affect the possible recommendation by the judges and prosecutor in apportioning incarceration, and a jury's decision to convict (Roberts K., 2016).

There are instances where the jury has effectively determined that the victim contributed to the crime that befell them. This is a condition where the victim makes possible, through intentional or unintentional omission of care, the occurrence of a crime. Some typical examples are leaving one's car open and yet they are aware it is prone to theft like the 2000 Honda Civic, this is referred to as facilitation. Precipitation also refers to instances where the victim, in a significant measure, contributes to the rime. Provocation is when the victim is held responsible than the perpetrator for instance in a fight that beaks out between the two (Karman, 2012).

Discussion 2

There are various factors that can increase the likelihood of an individual to be victimized in a given crime scenario. There are various factors of lifestyle that can create opportunity for a crime to be committed hence likelihood of victimization. Such are;

Demographics- research ahs is that victimization rates are higher among the young adults and the adolescents, among the African-Americans, among the married couples, people who live in inner cities and among men. There is need hence to consider, deeply the other facilitating factors for the victimization for those in the above mentioned categories (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, n.d).

Economic status- it is noted that more crime seems to be prevalent in poorer neighborhoods, though no community is immune to crimes, the lower socioeconomic communities suffer the brunt of it more. The offenders are also seen to be more in such lower economic areas hence increasing the chances of a victim running into an offender. One hence needs to choose where they live and if they happen to live in lower economic zones, then they need to be responsible for being guardians of security. If one lives in such neighborhoods then they are putting themselves more at risk of crimes hence prone to victim blaming.

Social activities- there is need for one to profoundly choose the social activities they engage in to avoid possible crimes meted on them. The type of activities, the timing, the place of occurrence and the people with whom one does such activities as well as the context within which such social activities take place are important factors. It is a fact that the more social an individual is, the more they put themselves in circumstances and activities that expose them to crimes, to more possible offenders and lowered guardianship.

Week 2,Discussion 1

The media has been all along a partner in the investigation process particularly in sensitive cases. In significant measure they have assisted in the investigation of victimization but in other instances the media has hindered, intentionally or otherwise, the investigation of victimization. As a matter of fact, in many instances they have facilitated the victimization or victim blaming through their assertions and reporting.

Through their reporting of details on a crime or the offender as well as the victim, there are possible inferences by the media of the victim's responsibility in the crime committed, typically in sexual assault cases. The way the media reports significantly affects the perception and feeling of the reader, either to blame or empathize with the victim. When the media reports on what the victim were wearing, their weight, size height all work to demean the crime and highlight the responsibility of the victim in the crime. When the media overemphasizes on the period of time she endured the assault by the husband before finally being killed by the husband is in a way putting blame on the victim who should have left the relationship much earlier, yet this is what the media has traditionally done.

However, most of the contemporary media has significantly evolved to help in the avoidance of victimization and also to aid in investigation into victimization. In their reporting, these media houses have tried to present both sides of the story, treated victims with respect and dignity, blurred out or avoided gruesome images, left the families of the victim in peace while grieving, respected privacy requests by the victims and their families, they avoid painting the victims in bad light just for the sake of making news, they have avoided glorifying violence and have avoided showing victims blood or body bag.

The criminal justice system has also significantly improved their approach in protection of the victims through hiding of their identity by banning publications, particularly child victims or witnesses and the sexual assault victims. The justice system has also ensured possibility of concealing identity and voice of the victims who may be appearing in court as complainants or witnesses. The justice system has acted within the law to recognize the victimization of victims of crime and have developed several legal mechanisms that help in protection of the victim from victim blaming and undue media coverage (Victims of Violence, 2007).

Week 2 - Discussion 2

There are various measures that can be taken to bring victim blaming to a stop in the contemporary society. There is need to believe the victims and give them a hearing of their claims. There is also need to hold the perpetrators of the various crime accountable since victimization is the perpetrators way of self preservation and escaping responsibility. There is need to hold the media accountable too over s story they are carrying and the judiciary too held accountable. There is need to have education on violence against women too in order to reduce victim blaming even in situations where there is overwhelming evidence that the blaming should not exist.

Victimology draws its origin from the Latin word 'victima' which means victim and Greek word 'Logos' which means a system of knowledge. It was Beniamin Mendelsohn in 1937 who suggested that an international society of victimology to be created and various such like societies formed. He provided the victimology blueprint that helped shape victimology to what it is today. However, as late as the 1970s, there were still no professionals dealing with crime victims. There was a mix of ministers, psychiatrists, medical doctors and psychologists among others who handled victims and there were no professionals. In the contemporary times however, there are more than 200,000 victim service programs globally which reduce suffering and facilitates recovery of the victims. One of the central legal provisions that stemmed out of the criminal justice system consideration of the victimology tenets is the 'victim assisted' investigations (Dussich J.P.J., n.d). This has the advantage of getting the side of the story that the victim has and putting the investigation back to context in a case that may have been already twisted. However, this process can also be detrimental to the justice system in that the victims can connive to direct the investigation to the direction they would love.

Week 3 - Discussion 1

victimization of the victims of crimes have various consequences some of which are long-term and yet some short-term. There is the psychological effect that the victim remains with, feeling traced and tracked by the perpetrators, feeling unsafe after some hours walking in a region where they faced the crime. There are victims who suffer financial losses due to being victimized, some have had their daily activities. Spousal violence and consequent victim blaming has led the victims to living a traumatized lifestyle. There are several measures that have been put in place by the legal system to ensure that the victims of crimes get adequate protection, there are witness protection measures that ensure victims who opt to be witnesses don't fear for their lives, there are the victim guided investigations, there are also special police forces and support groups formed or community-based services especially for the spouses who are victims of domestic violence to help them handle or walk out of violent relationships if need be (Government of Canada, 2007).

There are several reporting methods that have been formulated to help in investigation and avoid victimization. One of the methods is call-for-service (CFS). Most of these calls are anonymous and treated as such hence protecting the identity of the victim from media and third parties who may possibly use it for victimization. There is also the approach of confidential testimony that is accorded the victims who would wish to have their identity kept undisclosed to anyone (Police.UK., 2017). The call for service and the anonymous reporting have significantly proven to be effective in most of the crime reporting and victim protection. The challenge that comes up in both instances is hen the victim is unable to describe effectively the details surrounding the crime or the blame of victim. The masked or anonymous witness may also have vested interests in exaggerating the details of the case bearing that no one can see or know him. There is need to have a system that allows the hands on investigation of the crimes and involve both the victim and the witness in an in depth manner. The staffs at the telephone call centers need also to be effectively trained in a manner that they are able to properly probe the calls and extract as much information as possible and pick clues of misguiding information.

Week 3 - Discussion 2

Intimate partner violence has been increasingly understood and even aspects like marital rape known to significantly constitute crimes that one can be prosecuted for in courts of law. This vice that affects millions of victims in the US come in form of sexual, physical and emotional harm that can emanate from the current or past spouse. It can happen among heterosexual or same sex partners and may not necessarily involve sexual intimacy as hitherto believed (CDC, 2016a).

There are various risk factors that contribute to the intimate partner violence such as the traditional gender roles that women should be at home, submissive and inferior to men. Poverty, low social capital (institutions) as well as weak community sanctions against IPV all contribute to IPV increase. Marital instability, conflict in marriage, economic stress, dominance of one partner and unhealthy family relationships can significantly increase the chances of IPV (CDC, 2016b).

It is worth noting that age, gender, and financial resources can significantly hinder one's ability to handle IPV. If the partners involved in the IPV are older than the victim or the possible mediator, then the age may make it impossible to quickly stand out and stop the crime. The female gender is often considered weaker than the male hence often makes it hard for females to intervene in self or friends suffering. On the same note, men, being that they are expected to be strong, often suffer violence in silence just to avoid embarrassment of being seen to be battered by their female partners. Those from economically poor conditions often witness violence among partners hence may take it as usual long enough to see one of the partners hurt. However, the justice system has not effectively handled the cases of IPV with the much caution needed and they have always used the presented evidence despite the difference in gender, economic status and age that presents itself in each individual isolated case.

References

CDC, (2016a). Intimate Partner Violence. 04 May, 2017 from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/

CDC, (2016b). Intimate Partner Violence: Risk and Protective Factors. 04 May, 2017 from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/riskprotectivefactors.html

Dussich J.P.J., (n.d). Victimology-Past, Present and Future. 04 May, 2017 from http://www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/RS_No70/No70_12VE_Dussich.pdf

Government of Canada, (2007). The Impacts and Consequences of Criminal Victimization. 04 May, 2017 from http://www.victimsweek.gc.ca/res/r53.html Karman, (2012). Victims Contribution to the Crime Problem - Criminal Law - Lecture Slides, Slides for Criminal Law.

Aligarh Muslim University. Aligarh Muslim University. Retrieved 04 May, 2017 from https://www.docsity.com/en/victims-contribution-to-the-crime-problem-criminal-law-lecture-slides/230315/

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, (n.d). Violent Victimization as a Risk Factor for Violent Offending Among Juveniles. 04 May, 2017 from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/195737.pdf

Roberts K., (2016). The Psychology of Victim-Blaming. 04 May, 2017 from https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/10/the-psychology-of-victim-blaming/502661/

Police.UK., (2017). Reporting Crime. 04 May, 2017 from https://www.police.uk/information-and-advice/reporting-crime/

Victims of Violence, (2007). Media Victimization. 04 May, 2017 from http://www.victimsofviolence.on.ca/research-library/media-and-victimization/