VICTIMOLOGY essay

The scheme gets its name from Charles Ponzi, a fraudster in the 1920s who promised investors a 40% return on their investments within 90 days s compared to banks at the time who offered 5% in savings accounts (Frankel, 2012). A typical Ponzi scheme involves money from older investors being used to pay off new investors until no more recruits can be found. The system then collapses at this point since funds are often unavailable to pay members resulting in losses especially for the newest members who lose everything (Frankel, 2012). The victims in the video are typical of the victims discussed in the class; this is because their profile fits with a typical victim, though in this instance it was a case of financial fraud.

First, like most of the cases of victimization, a specific class of people in the society were targeted in the "Madoff Affair. Victims in the video recount how the SEC at first found no fault with the operations of Madoff, who continued with his activity unabated adding more victims to the scheme. Most victims find themselves in positions of weakness due to the negligence of people or institutions tasked with protecting them. For instance, children with disabilities experience bullying in schools more compared to their able-bodied counterparts, something that should be discouraged by teachers due to the detrimental effects of bullying regardless of body condition (Daigle, 2017). Additionally, the report by the National Council on Disability showed that victims experienced victimization from health care providers and family members, all people tasked with ensuring their safety.