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.
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 ScienceThe sub-field of criminology that studies crime victims: their characteristics, the victim-offender relationship, the impacts of victimisation, and the adequac...
- 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...