¶ … victimization theories of crime. Victimization theories of crime focus on victim characteristics and behavior patterns, rather than focus exclusively on the perpetrators of crime. These theories help present a broader picture of crime rates and patterns within any given community. Victimization theories also help to identify vulnerable groups, and can therefore be helpful when creating public policy or law enforcement strategies. Some victimization theories include victim participation theory, victim lifestyle theory, deviant place theory, and routine activity theory. Each of these theories can be useful in helping communities, individuals, and law enforcement officials discover ways of promoting public safety and minimizing crime. For example, a victimization theory revealing that people in a certain neighborhood are more vulnerable can help raise awareness about crime in that community so that the local residents and law enforcement can collectively pool resources.

Data on victimization can be used in a number of different ways. For example, the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics issues a Crime Victimization report called the National Crime Victimization Survey. The National Crime Victimization Survey is "the Nation's primary source of information on criminal victimization," (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011). The survey empowers victims by allowing them to share their stories and perceptions. Moreover, the survey collects data that can be used to...

This information can be helpful not just to law enforcement officials but also to social workers.
Relation to Assigned Readings

The assigned readings have covered a variety of perspectives on crime and victimization, although none have focused exclusively on crime victimization theories. The National Crime Victimization Survey is used extensively in criminological research, which is why it is important to study the survey in greater depth. Crime victimization theories are integral to any theory of criminality, as well as to related fields such as sociology.

One article I recently came across had to do with crime victimization from a specific population: the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual community. In "Psychological sequelae of hate-crime victimization among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults," Herek, Gillis & Cogan (1999) found that rates of victimization are significantly higher among the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual community than they are for their heterosexual counterparts. Moreover, the research showed that the ways gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals react to victimization is different from heterosexuals. "Compared with other recent crime victims, lesbian and gay hate-crime survivors manifested significantly more symptoms of depression, anger, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress," (Herek, Gillis & Cogan, 1999, p. 945). This type of research is extremely…