Victimology
Definition
The sub-field of criminology that studies crime victims: their characteristics, the victim-offender relationship, the impacts of victimisation, and the adequacy of legal and social responses. Developed as a formal discipline in the 1940s through the work of Hans von Hentig and Benjamin Mendelsohn.
- Field
- Sub-field of criminology
- Studies
- Victim characteristics, victim-offender relationship, impacts
- Founders
- Hans von Hentig and Benjamin Mendelsohn
- Era formalised
- 1940s
Common questions
How is victimology used in an active criminal investigation?+
Investigators build a victim profile covering lifestyle, relationships, and routine to identify who had access, motive, or opportunity, which narrows the suspect pool and can reveal whether the crime was targeted or opportunistic.
How does victimology differ from victim support work?+
Victimology is the academic and investigative study of victims and victimisation patterns, while victim support work is the direct provision of services and advocacy to individual victims. The two are related but victimology research often informs how support services are designed.
Related terms
- Criminology
- The scientific study of crime, its causes and distribution across populations, the operation of criminal justice institutions, and strategies for prevention and...
- Dark Figure of Crime
- The gap between the actual volume of crime and the amount recorded in official statistics. Crimes go unrecorded when victims do not...
- Penology
- The branch of criminology concerned with the theory and practice of punishment and imprisonment. It examines the aims of punishment (retribution, deterrence,...
- Repeat Victimisation
- The empirical pattern in which a small proportion of people or locations experience a disproportionate share of violent incidents. Domestic violence shows...
- 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...
- Crime Prevention
- Strategies and interventions aimed at reducing the incidence or severity of crime before it occurs. Includes situational prevention (modifying environments to reduce...
- Deviance
- Behaviour that violates social norms, whether or not it is also illegal. Criminology studies deviance as well as crime because the boundary...
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- A recognised psychological disorder that can follow exposure to traumatic events including criminal victimisation. Diagnostic criteria include intrusive re-experiencing, avoidance, negative mood...
- Recidivism
- The tendency of a person who has been convicted of a crime to reoffend. Measured differently across jurisdictions: by reconviction, by reincarceration,...
- Restorative Justice
- A process in which the victim, the offender, and relevant community members meet with a trained facilitator to discuss the harm caused,...
- Risk Level
- A three-band code (low, medium, high) describing how exposed the victim's routine made them to becoming a target. Based on lifestyle, occupation,...
Explained in these topics
- Criminology, Law, and Forensic Science
- Foundations of VictimologyThe scientific study of crime victims, covering who is victimised, under what circumstances, and with what physical, psychological, and social consequences. Th...
- Victim Profiling and VictimologyThe structured analysis of the victim's lifestyle, accessibility, vulnerability, and relationship to the offender. Used to narrow suspect pools and to characte...
- Victim Rights, Support, and the Impact of CrimeThe scientific study of crime victims, including their characteristics, their relationship to offenders, the impact of crime on them, and how criminal justice...
- What Is CriminologyThe sub-field of criminology that studies crime victims: who they are, the harm they suffer, their experience of the criminal justice process, and the policies...