Victim precipitation
Definition
The discredited idea, associated with Von Hentig and Mendelsohn, that victims bear some responsibility for their own victimisation through their behaviour or characteristics. The concept has been criticised for shifting blame from offenders to victims.
Related terms
- Repeat victimisation
- The empirical pattern in which a small proportion of people or locations experience a disproportionate share of violent incidents. Domestic violence shows...
- Routine activity theory
- A criminological framework developed by Cohen and Felson (1979) that explains property crime as the product of three converging elements: a motivated...
- Secondary victimisation
- Additional harm caused to a victim through the process of reporting and investigation, such as disbelief, insensitive questioning, or retraumatisation. Fear of...
- Victim impact statement
- A written or oral account submitted by a victim (or victim's family) describing the physical, psychological, financial, and social effects of the...
- Victimology
- The sub-field of criminology that studies crime victims: their characteristics, the victim-offender relationship, the impacts of victimisation, and the adequacy of legal...
Explained in
- Foundations of VictimologyThe discredited idea, associated with Von Hentig and Mendelsohn, that victims bear some responsibility for their own victimisation through their behaviour or c...