a crime victim is someone who is injured or harmed by the criminal act of another most crime involves a victim of some kind like crime while victimization may appear random and unpredictable it does follow many consistent patterns first there are ecological factors with different crimes following different patterns violent crimes are more likely to occur in open public areas and commercial establishments such as bars some crimes are more likely to occur during the night including about two-thirds of all sexual assaults whereas others are more likely to occur during the day such as larcenies and unarmed robberies burglary robbery and sexual assault are highest during the summer while assaults are highest during the fall when youth are all back to school together urban areas have a higher victimization rate particularly in the southern and western regions of the u.s people are far less likely to be victimized in suburban or rural areas the movement of people out of highly concentrated cities and into more spread out areas combined with smaller household sizes is one explanation for declining rates of victimization since the early 1990s there are notable age patterns as well that differ depending on the type of crime involved juveniles are more likely to be victimized by violent crime this is largely tied to their naturally higher risk lifestyles we'll come back to this later but also due to their dependency on trusted adults to care for them both young children and the elderly are more vulnerable to physical emotional psychological and sexual abuse and neglect particularly from family members the elderly are also more likely to be victimized by economic and property crimes especially fraud while victimization for street crime has declined along with declining crime rates over the last three decades the population is getting older as the baby boomer generation enters retirement which has the potential to increase the frequency of elderly victimization sex just as they are more likely to be offenders males are also more likely to be victims of most violent crimes the obvious exception is sexual assault which females are 10 times more likely to be a victim of females are also more likely to be victimized by someone they know a friend an acquaintance or an intimate partner whereas males are more likely to be victimized by a stranger race is another crucial factor blacks especially are at a disproportionate risk of being victimized the murder victimization rate for blacks is six times the rate for whites putting together the factors we've discussed to this point in terms of murder specifically about one-third of victims and half of offenders tend to be under 25 years of age both offenders and victims tend to be male about half of murder victims are black and most murders occur in urban areas if you put it all together you see that both murder victims and offenders are disproportionately young black males now there's a lot to unpack here you may have heard at some point about the prominence of black on black crime this is true it's also true for white on white crime crime and victimization tend to be intraracial occurring among those in the same racial groups this speaks to the prominence of crime among acquaintances you're more likely to be victimized by someone who is in close proximity to you and you are more likely to associate with people with similar traits including race and ethnicity the fact that most violent crimes occur in urban areas is directly relevant urban areas tend to have a higher black population so we would expect the murder rate to be higher among blacks due to the nature of where they tend to live in urban areas more people are interacting together in a concentrated area meaning there is more potential for interpersonal conflict that could turn violent we'll cover this more extensively when we review social disorganization theory there are several additional factors to note that increase the risk of victimization one is having a physical and or cognitive disability those who suffer from physical or cognitive impairments are seen as more vulnerable targets by criminals another is poverty the poor have the highest risk of violent and property crime victimization those who have never been married are also at a higher risk than those who have as just highlighted in terms of race these factors are likely interrelated with others we've already discussed so it's challenging to break apart the relative impact of each and then there is prior or repeat victimization those who have been victimized once have a higher risk of being victimized again some of this has to do with location if you live in a high risk area you're likely to be victimized multiple times other repeat victims may have some type of characteristic that makes them more vulnerable this could include a physical and or cognitive impairment as was just mentioned but it could also be because the repeat victim is perceived as physically weak socially isolated or having another characteristic that triggers a response from an offender such as a homosexual being attacked by someone who is homophobic and other centers on lifestyle choices which again we'll come back to in a little bit repeat victimization is also linked to how victims deal with their victimization victims can suffer long-term challenges with adjusting afterward this drives many victims toward higher risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol use to cope with what happened to them which ultimately increases their chances of becoming victimized again and finally victims who do not take measures to defend themselves against future victimization may be perceived as vulnerable repeat targets such as domestic violence victims who do not call the police or put up some other type of defense victimization can also lead to victims becoming offenders themselves it can perpetuate a cycle of violence where victims take out their frustration at being a victim by becoming the offender and victimizing others they may ultimately victimize those who share similar characteristics to the person who victimized them as an act of vengeance in the most severe cases this can lead to feelings of prejudice against specific groups such as someone victimized by one immigrant developing feelings of hatred against all immigrants some victims may also victimize others as a means of taking back power and control over their lives that they feel they've lost as a way to reinforce to themselves that they will not become a victim again this can be especially true for child abuse victims who are far more likely to grow up to be abusers themselves as these behaviors are normalized in them at a young age these actions toward becoming an offender though ultimately increase their likelihood of repeat victimization due to their riskier lifestyle choices okay now that we've reviewed the nature of victimization and some of the explanations for why some victims are more vulnerable than others this is a good time to introduce victimology victimology is a distinct sub-area of criminology that focuses specifically on victims including the causes of victimization and identifying remedies for victimization let's briefly touch on a few of these victimization theories we'll begin with benjamin mendelsohn who originated the term victimology in 1947 and began the movement toward assessing victimization as a distinct field of study he distinguished among different types of victims based on their relative responsibility for their own victimization these ranged from victims who were completely innocent and had no fault in their victimization a victim of child abuse is an obvious example to those who were the guiltiest who entered as an offender but became a victim such as an attacker who is killed in self-defense then there are the less common imaginary victims who pretended to be victimized either because they consciously faked being a victim or because they mistakenly imagined it such as someone who was mentally ill another early theory was hans von hentig's victim typology von henteg did not say victimization is the victim's fault but it is important rather to consider the victim's role as part of the victimization process he pointed towards certain traits victims have that may make them more attractive targets to certain offenders such as race ethnicity age religion sexual orientation etc the examples listed here highlight how victims can passively precipitate their own victimization von hentig's ideas were later expanded into victim precipitation theory which looked at how victims knowingly or unconsciously contribute to their own victimization this includes not only passive but also more active precipitation victimization that occurs following specific actions taken by the victim such as provoking threatening or even initiating an attack on someone else it is pointed to in other cases to place responsibility on victims for what happened to them the most notable example of which is rape and sexual assault we'll come back to this shortly and speaking of coming back to something let's circle back around to lifestyles lifestyle theories argue that their risk of victimization stems from risky lifestyle choices they are used to explain demographic differences and victimization for different forms of crime lifestyle theories argue that post 1950 changes in daily routines and activities increased opportunities for contacts between potential victims and offenders victims put themselves in danger of being exposed to criminal activity by engaging in the same higher risk activities as offenders such as living in a high crime area going out late at night to public places using drugs and alcohol and associating with high-risk peers because offenders and victims share many of these higher risk lifestyles criminals may also experience victimization of their own by being targeted by other criminals another theory that shares some overlap with lifestyle theories is deviant place theory which argues that victimization is primarily a function of where people live victimization risk then is directly related to neighborhood crime rates if a person lives in a socially disorganized high crime neighborhood and is robbed while walking home at night that person was victimized because they were a target in an area prone to crime persons entering a high crime neighborhood increase their risk of becoming a victim these deviant places may have informal honor codes that shape how to respond to becoming a victim such as direct retaliation as opposed to calling the police that may ultimately increase the chances of being victimized again another victimization theory is routine activities theory which focuses on the different elements that are necessary for a crime to occur a motivated offender lack of capable guardian who couldn't intervene to stop or prevent the crime and suitable target or victim we'll discuss routine activities theory and greater doubt when we review opportunity theories many theories of victimology especially the earlier ones to an extent place at least some of the responsibility for victimization on the victim so it's important to conclude this brief review of victimology theories by discussing this traditional view of victimization which is based on what has been referred to as the just world hypothesis the just world hypothesis centers on our need to maintain the belief that people deserve whatever comes to them we look for faults in the victim as an individual to explain why bad things happen by doing this we are able to reason to ourselves that those who are victimized by crime deserve what happened to them essentially victim blaming a rape victim is asked what were you wearing why did you go to the bar at that time of night why did you invite your date over to your place if you weren't asking for sex a domestic violence victim is asked why did you stay an assault victim is asked why didn't you fight back a burglary victim is asked why didn't you lock the door a fraud victim is asked why did you provide your credit card number online or why did you trust them with your money a counterfeiting victim is asked why did you purchase that obviously fake product a robbery victim is asked why did you take your smartphone purse etc out in a crowded public place a murder victim is asked why did you take drugs before you let someone put a knee on your neck for almost 10 minutes and cut off your oxygen supply so why do we do this as a way to rationalize make sense of explain away victimization so we don't have to face uncomfortable truths it's a defense mechanism to reaffirm our belief that the victim is somehow different from us because if we accept the notion that a victim is just like us we then have to entertain the possibility that we too could become a victim this gives those who have not been victimized a false sense of security from the risks of crime and victimization it can't happen to me it isn't supposed to happen here there are critical follow-up questions to these types of common statements they are rarely asked but ones you should consider if it isn't supposed to happen to you if it isn't supposed to happen here where is it supposed to happen and who is it supposed to happen to another faulty assumption with the just world hypothesis is that people have an unlimited ability to change their environment they wouldn't have been victimized if they had done something different changed their behavior moved to a different area took more precautions this ignores the fact that it isn't always so simple to just change our environment at will limited resources personal and professional obligations fear of leaving behind everything we know and everyone we care about these are just a few of many reasons why changing our environment is not so straightforward and simple and for anyone who's ever tried to break a habit or change a routine so all of us at least to some extent you know it's not as easy as just snapping your fingers and making it happen overnight it takes a lot of dedication and persistent hard work so it's important to recognize the influence of this just world hypothesis on how we respond to and treat victims of crime we'll conclude by looking at the costs of victimization and the role of victims in the criminal justice process victimization comes with tremendous cost as an example one analysis calculated the cost of a murder on society at nearly 9 million dollars which given the average number of murders per year amounts to about 190 million that's certainly a substantial cost on society as a whole but what about the cost to victims as individuals the milwaukee victim witness survey from the late 1970s included interviews with 1775 victims along with 1225 witnesses it was one of the first to point to the many issues victims face but receive little help in dealing with and remains informative to this day mental suffering from their victimization was most commonly cited which we discussed earlier mental distress anxiety depression post-traumatic stress disorder victims self-blame fear of future victimization nearly 60 percent indicated they experienced it but only 12 percent received any kind of help for violent crimes there are of course the physical injuries suffered not only is there the physical pain but there could be hundreds or even thousands of dollars in medical bills for surgeries treatments and rehabilitation then there is property damage and loss which can range widely depending on the nature of the property from less than hundred dollars to in the thousands of dollars assistance was most often directed toward physical injuries and property losses but still only about half of those who experienced each were helped other indirect costs of victimization included time lost from work or school lost income reputation damage and increased relationship problems with family and or friends fewer than 10 percent of victims received any type of help with these costs so these are some of the costs of being victimized by the crime itself but what happens next what happens after someone is victimized what role does the victim play in the criminal justice process well traditionally they haven't had much of a role the traditional criminal justice system response has focused predominantly on the offender this is inherent in the way criminal law works a criminal act is considered a violation of the law against the state not the individual victim the criminal justice system is centered around this process of determining whether a crime against the state has occurred and what should be done in response the police exercise discretion and making an arrest once they are made aware that a crime has likely occurred the prosecutor makes a decision on whether or not to charge the offender with a crime and what if any plea bargain should be offered to the offender the judge ensures due process rights of the offender are upheld and determines the sentence for a convicted offender and corrections officials make sure sentences are carried out appropriately victims of crime have traditionally been kept at an arm's length during this process often reduced to a piece of evidence in the criminal case against the offender this leads to many victims feeling understandably frustrated that the criminal justice system doesn't effectively respond to their needs this points to additional costs victims suffer due to their involvement in the criminal justice system in effect they have suffered re-victimization or secondary victimization not only are they victims of crime but they are also victimized again by their experience of having to go through a typically unfamiliar complex and taxing criminal justice process this again comes from the milwaukee victim witness survey first there are of course transportation costs along with this came trouble finding the courthouse or they need to go somewhere they may not be familiar with then they need to find a place to park i don't think i need to stress to most of you how frustrating that can be and when they got there they often had to wait for long periods of time in poor conditions uncomfortable seating limited access to restrooms or food or water with little direction of what they were supposed to do on top of this if court proceedings were continued until a later date as they often are victims end up making an unnecessary trip for nothing sometimes after sitting in the courthouse all day very frustrating all of this amounts to time lost from work or school lost income and additional expenses for child care others have to deal with threatening persons including the persons they were victimized by or their friends and family other potentially dangerous criminals moving through the courthouse few received help with any of these costs only about 10 percent received help finding the place and with child care less than 10 percent received help with any other costs none received help when it came to waiting conditions or long waits among those victims who got involved in the criminal justice system about one in four said they wouldn't do it again regardless of the crime they were victimized by so for these and many other reasons many victims avoid getting involved in the criminal justice system many have developed a general apathetic attitude toward the criminal justice process and the possibility of any kind of beneficial outcome there's a feeling that nothing can or will be done about the crime that the police won't do anything to help they can't recover the property and they won't catch the offender and even if they are caught the courts won't adequately punish the offender many don't see the point in spending so much time and effort towards something when they don't think they are going to get anything out of it essentially what's in it for me attitude and let's face it being a victim takes a lot of work a deliberate calculus is made that since the costs outweigh the benefits there's nothing to be gained by pursuing a criminal justice remedy as a result of this calculus there's a rationalization that can take place that the crime wasn't really that important and it's just better to cut their losses many are also embarrassed by becoming a victim seeing it as some kind of personal fault or they are brightly concerned about how others will see them differently that they won't be believed or they will be blamed for being a victim others fear retaliation from the offender their family or friends or criminal associates such as fellow gang members or from others who want to discredit what happened to them most sought help from informal social networks as opposed to formal help from the criminal justice system while improvements have certainly been made over the last few decades following an extensive push for victims rights and protections greater victim participation victim advocates and victim compensation there are still many areas of unmet needs for victims and the system still predominantly revolves around the offender it's important to remain aware of the ongoing challenges facing victims