A Holistic Response to Crime Victimization

Restitution is commonly used in restorative measures of justice. In an attempt to develop a restitution plan we first have to understand victim assistance was developed, the theories that are associated with crime victimization, how crime victimization is related to criminal and social justice systems, what measures have been used to address victimization and what will be the future of victimology/ crime victimization. Victimology is a discipline in academic science that is concerned with the study of data that is required in trying to define singularities and casual connections that are in relation to victimization. This involves the description of the processes that lead to the actual victimization, an insight to the life experience of the victim, the aftermath of the victimization and what the society has concluded to do in response to the victimization.

This is to mean that victimology is generally the study of the vulnerabilities, recoveries, precursors, cultures, organizations, and impacts of victimization. In preparing for his cases, he was always surveying the behavior and conduct of both the offender and the victim by assessing all the legal culpabilities of both parties but most especially those of the victim. In the United States of America, there was an increase in public awareness about victims in the period between 1970 and 1980 after the unanimous American Civil War (Dussich, 2006). Nonetheless, there were no professionals available in that specific field of victimology to deal with crime victims. There were, however, victim assistance programs that were established to deal with issues that affected crime victims. The programs were conducted by individuals who specialized in health sciences such as medical doctors, psychiatrists, ministers, psychologists, and counselors (Tan and Haining, 2016).

He was able to develop empirical evidence by examining homicide records (1948- 1952) of the Philadelphia Police Department. According to his research, almost twenty-six percent of the homicide cases were as a result of casualty precipitation (Wolfgang, 1958). Moreover he was able to identify three factors that contributed to these precipitations and these were; one, he noted that there was a prior interaction between the offender and the victim; two, there were reported cases of forms of disagreements between the victim and the offender; and finally, in some capacity, the victim was under the influence of alcohol (Wolfgang, 1958). Additionally, in the same police department, rape incidents could have been blamed on the victim. This blames could be supported by acts of seduction, alcohol intake and skimpy dressing.

According to them, human demographic characteristics such as sex and age are influential and contribute a lot in developing an individual’s lifestyle. This will then determine their position and propensity of becoming a crime victim. This is because an individual’s sex will ascribe him to specific roles and tasks that the society dictates (Hemenway and Solnick, 2015). However, one chooses to these kinds of constraints is what will depict their lifestyle. For example, females are known to spend more time at home hence are less exposed to risks especially in situations that require encounters with strangers unlike men and young people. They have also been expanded to embrace non-predatory crimes such as prostitution, gambling, and high alcohol intake even in early adulthood.

Violent crimes and property destruction can also be influenced by peer pressure and lack of self- control. Stakeholders in Victimology Just from the theoretical descriptions of the theories in victimology, we are able to recognize who are the main stakeholders. Stakeholders in victimology include the offender, the victim, and the criminal justice system (Hentig, 1948). But who is a victim? In an example, a victim is a person who has a crime committed against them. They also provide victims with relevant information that will facilitate their safety if they are still alive, the safety precautions also include those that are close family, friends or relatives of the victim. If the victim is exposed to constant stalking or harassment by their offender, they are allowed to report this to the authorities and also the prosecutor to assist in their case against the offender (Sickmund and Puzzanchera, 2014).

In addition, if the offender has been apprehended and is now in jail, a victim is entitled to be informed when if by any chance the offender has been released or if he/ she has escaped police custody. Moreover, there are situations where victims may sign up for automated systems that will notify them of the status of the offender at any point in time (Wilson, 2014). Primarily, the presence of victims is what necessitates the presence of a prosecutor and a defense attorney in a courtroom. When the victim has had a monetary loss after a crime has been committed against them, they are given restitution. Restitution is a formal way of compensating the victims from suffering or damage that might have been caused by the victimization process.

Socioeconomic/ cultural diversity in relation to criminal/social justice and victimology While evaluating victimology, we need to address economic and political accountabilities especially with respect to victim assistance programs (Dussich, 2006). The evaluation of these programs both economically and politically assists us to place them in a social context in the larger society. We actually examine how different governments contribute financial support to the establishment and maintenance of the given programs and also if the political leaders are actually supportive of these programs. The future of victimology As time the years continue to elapse, it is possible that some laws will change attributed to the evolution of ideologies. Additionally, we are also able to discover those that prove to be more effective and those that do not (Dussich, 2006).

Some of the most promising features of victimology include victim assisted investigations, an interaction between the prosecutor and law enforcement to cater for victims of gang violence, community outreach training programs, efficient translation to facilitate communication with foreign victims and community policing programs that would help in response to cases of domestic violence (Wilson, 2014). For more improved ways of tackling victimization, it is important that governments gain keen interest in funding research and hosting conferences that are in relation to victim assistance and victimology as a discipline. Additionally, it is wise to group/ categorizes crime victims into cohort like categories where they are able to identify with one another e. , & Solnick, S. J. The epidemiology of self-defense gun use: Evidence from the National Crime Victimization Surveys 2007–2011.