Chapter 3: Victims and Victimization

Elder abuse

A disturbing form of domestic violence by children and other relatives with whom elderly people live.

Routine activities and lifestyle

A person's living arrangements can affect victim risk and people who live in unguarded areas are at the mercy of motivated offenders.

Hot spots

A place where potentially motivated criminals congregate thereby elevating the chances of victimization.

Race and ethnicity

A victim characteristic: - African Americans are more likely than whites to be victims of violence crime. - Serious violent crime rates have declined in recent years for both blacks and whites.

Gender

A victim characteristic: - Except for the crimes of rape and sexual assault, males are more likely than females to be the victims of violent crime. - Females are more often victimized by someone they know, while males are more often victimized by strangers.

Social status

A victim characteristic: The poorest Americans are the most likely victims of violent and property crime; the wealthy are more likely to experience personal theft.

Chronic victimization (repeat victimization)

A victim characteristic: Those who have been crime victims maintain a significantly higher chance of future victimization than people who have remained nonvictims. Most repeat victimizations occur soon after a previous crime has occurred, suggesting that repeat victims share some personal characteristic that makes them a magnet for predators.

Age

A victim characteristic: - Younger people face a greater victimization risk than do older people. - Victims of elder abuse are more susceptible to a narrow band of crimes such as frauds and scams.

Suitable targets

According to routine activities theory, a target for crime that is relatively valuable, easily transportable, and not capably guarded. • Costly mobile devices. • Expensive cars. • Easily transportable goods.

The victim's household

African American, urban, and Western states' homes are the most vulnerable to crime.

Criminal lifestyle

A career as a criminal may predispose one to be victimized.

Caregiver stress view

Asserts that parents experiencing stress are more likely to maltreat their children. In the context of elder maltreatment, maltreatment occurs when family members caring for an impaired older adults are unable to adequately manage their caregiving responsibilities. The elderly victim is typically described as highly dependent on the caregiver, who becomes overwhelmed, frustrated, and abusive because of the continuous caregiving demands posed by the elderly person.

Background-situational view

Asserts that relationship discord results from a combination of contextual factors (e.g., history of family violence) and situational factors (e.g., a lack of relationship satisfaction), which primes a person's acceptance of violence as a conflict resolution strategy. Elder abuse occurs when the abusive individual is the spouse or intimate partner of the victim, but it might also apply when the abusive individual is a codependent adult child or caregiver of the elderly person.

Comprehensive Crime Control Act and Victims of Crime Act (1984)

Authorized federal funding for state victim compensation and assistance projects. Other government victim assistance programs: Victim Compensation, Victims Advocates, helping child abuse victims, Public Education, and Crisis Intervention.

Community organization

Communities organize at the neighborhood level against crime. - Block watches and neighborhood patrols are examples. Little evidence of effectiveness, especially in lower-income, high-crime areas

Restitution agreements

Conditions of probation in which the offenders repay society or the victims of crime for the trouble the offenders caused. Monetary restitution involves a direct payment to the victim as a form of compensation. Community service restitution may be used in victimless crimes and involves work in the community in lieu of more severe criminal penalties.

1. Target vulnerability. 2. Target gratifiability 3. Target antagonism. Source: David Finkelhor and Nancy Asigian, "Risk Factors for Youth Victimization: Beyond a Lifestyles/Routine Activities Theory Approach," 'Violence and Victimization' 11 (1996): 3-19.

David Finkelhor and Nancy Asigian have found that 3 specific types of characteristics increase the potential for victimization. What are they?

Capable guardians

Effective deterrents to crime, such as police or watchful neighbors. • Police officers. • Homeowners. • Security systems.

Biopsychosocial model

Elder maltreatment can be attributed to the characteristics of both the elderly person and the abusive individual, both of whom are embedded in a larger socio-cultural context (family and friends); their status inequality, relationship type, and power and exchange dynamics all help explain the outcome of their interactions.

Crisis intervention

Emergency counseling for crime victims.

Power and control view

Highlights an abusive individual's use of a pattern of coercive tactics to gain and maintain power and control during the course of a relationship with another person. It has been used to explain spousal abuse among elderly couples, although it could be applied as well when such traits describe an adult child or caregiver who has assumed, perhaps grudgingly, responsibility for the elderly person.

Social learning view

Holds that elder abuse results from the abusive individual learning to use violence to either resolve conflicts or obtain a desired outcome.

Victims' rights

Every state now has a set of legal rights for crime victims. Often called Victims' Bill of Rights. Generally include the right to: - Be notified of proceedings and the status of the defendant. - To be preset at criminal justice proceedings. - To make a statement at sentencing and to receive restitution from a convicted offender. - To be consulted before a case is dismissed or a plea bargain entered.

Ecological model

Explains human behavior by including a range of potential influences on this process, including the impact of the individual, relationship, community, and societal influences.

Victim-witness assistance programs

Government programs that help crime victims and witnesses; may include compensation, court services, and/or crisis intervention.

The social ecology of victimization

Patterns of time and place of victimization. Neighborhood characteristics and urban versus suburban characteristics of victimization. Crime in schools: - Populated by high risk juvenile males

• Murder: $8,982,907 (range = $4,144,677 to $11,350,687). • Rape/sexual assault: $240,776 (range = $80,403, to $369,739). • Robbery: $42,310 (range = $18,591, to $280,237). • Household burglary: $6,462 (range = $1,974 to $30,197). • Stolen property: $7,974 (range = $151 to $22,739). Source: Kathryn McCollister, Michael T. French, and Hai Fang, "The Cost of Crime to Society: New Crime-Specific Estimates for Policy and Program Evaluation," "Drug and Alcohol Dependence" 108 (2010): 98-109.

Kathryn McCollister and her associates employed complex statistical analysis to determine how much an individual crime might cost society; their calculations included intangible, tangible, criminal justice system, and other costs. The crimes they could put a figure on included...

Direct influence

Kids who are delinquent risk being victimized from angry targets seeking retaliation or from bystanders acting as good Samaritans.

1. The availability of suitable targets, such as homes containing easily salable goods. 2. The absence of capable guardians, such as police, homeowners, neighbors, friends, parents, and relatives. 3. The presence of motivated offenders, such as a large number of unemployed and unsupervised teenagers. Source: Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson, "Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activities Approach," 'American Sociological Review' 44 (1979): 588-608.

Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson conclude that the volume and distribution of predatory crime (violent crimes against a person and crimes in which an offender attempts to steal an object directly) are closely related to the interaction of three variables that reflect the routine activities of a typical American lifestyle. What are they?

Criminal justice system costs

Local, state, and federal government funds spent on police protection and investigations; legal and adjudication services, such as prosecutions, public defenders, and trial costs; and the cost of both community and secure corrections programs, including counseling and other programs.

Target hardening

Making one's home or business crime proof through the use of locks, bars, alarms, and other devices.

• It has become more difficult to protect people from criminal entry because homes have been disbursed over larger areas, huge parking lots have been created, and building heights lowered. • By spreading people and vehicles over larger areas as they travel and park, people are more exposed to attack. • There are fewer people in each household and consequently less interpersonal and intrafamily supervision. • As shopping, work, and socializing are spread farther from home, people are forced to leave their immediate neighborhood, and, as strangers, they become more vulnerable to attack. • By spreading vast quantities of retail goods throughout huge stores and malls, with fewer employees to watch over them, the divergent metropolis creates a retail environment that invites people of all ages to shoplift. • Commuting to the inner city for work requires that millions of dollars worth of vehicles be left in parking lots without supervision. Source: Marcus Felson and Mary Eckert, "Crime and Everyday Life: Insights and Implications for Society," 5th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2009).

Markus Felson has set out the factors that increase the likelihood of victimization as the features of metropolitan living have spread to the suburbs. What are the factors?

Victims and their criminals

Most crimes are committed by a single offender over age twenty. Crime tends to be intraracial. Substance abuse is involved in about one-third of violent crimes. Relatives or acquaintances commit more than sixty percent of violent crimes.

Marital status

Never-married people are victimized more than married people; widows and widowers have the lowest victimization risk

Crime career costs

Opportunity costs associated with the criminal's choice to engage in illegal rather than legal and productive activities, including funds spent on supporting their families.

College lifestyle

Partying, taking recreational drugs makes them victimization prone.

Deviant place theory

People become victims because they reside in socially disorganized, high-crime areas where they have the greatest risk of coming into contact with criminal offenders. Major premise: Victims do not encourage crime but are victim prone because they reside in socially disorganized high crime areas where they have the greatest risk of coming into contact with criminal offenders, irrespective of their own behavior or lifestyle. Strengths of the theory: It shows why people with conventional lifestyles become crime victims in high-risk areas. Victimization is a function of place and location, not lifestyle and risk-taking. Research focus of the theory: Victimization in high crime, disorganized neighborhoods.

Lifestyle theory

People may become crime victims because their lifestyle increases their exposure to criminal offenders. Major premise: Victimization risk is increased when people have a higher risk lifestyle. Placing oneself at risk by going out to dangerous places results in increased victimization. Strengths of the theory: It explains victimization patterns in the social structure. Males, young people, and the poor have high victimization rates because they have a higher risk lifestyle than females, the elderly, and the affluent. Research focus of the theory: Personal activities, peer relations, place of crime, and type of crime.

Indirect influence

People who engage in criminal activities also associate with risk-taking peers and engage in risky behaviors. They consume alcohol, congregate with peers in the absence of authority figures, and hang out at night in public places. These unsafe behaviors all increase victimization risk.

Victimologists

People who study the victim's role in criminal transactions.

Victim costs

Personal economic losses, including medical care costs, lost earnings, and property loss/damage.

The government's response to victimization

President Reagan created a Task Force on Victims of Crime in 1982, which recommended: - Balancing victims' rights with defendants' due process. - Providing victims and witnesses with protection from intimidation. - Requiring restitution in criminal cases. - Developing guidelines for fair treatment of victims and witnesses. - Expanding victim compensation programs.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Psychological reaction to a highly stressful event; symptoms may include depression, anxiety, flashbacks, and recurring nightmares.

Omnibus Victim and Witness Protection Act

Required the use of victim impact statements at federal criminal case sentencing, protection for witnesses, stringent bail laws, and restitution. Estimated 2,000 victim-witness assistance programs.

Live a risky lifestyle.

Research shows victims often?

Victim compensation

The victim ordinarily receives compensation from the state to pay for damages associated with the crime. Rarely are two compensation schemes alike, however, and many state programs suffer from lack of both adequate funding and proper organization within the criminal justice system. Compensation may be made for medical bills, loss of wages, lots of future earnings, and counseling. In the case of death, the victim's survivors can receive burial expenses and aid for loss of support.

Target vulnerability

The victim's physical weakness or psychological distress renders them incapable of resisting or deterring crime and makes them easy targets.

Gang lifestyle

Serious crime and delinquency.

Target antagonism

Some characteristics increase risk because they arouse anger, jealousy, or destructive impulses in potential offenders. Being gay or effeminate, for example, may bring on undeserved attacks in the street; being argumentative and alcoholic may provoke barroom assaults.

Target gratifiability

Some victims have some quality, possession, skill, or attribute that an offender wants to obtain, use, have access to, or manipulate. Having attractive possessions such as a leather coat may make one vulnerable to predatory crime.

Passive precipitation

The view that some people become victims because of personal and social characteristics that make them attractive targets for predatory criminals. Suggests that there was possibly some type of interaction, but the victim is unaware their actions contributed.

Active precipitation

The view that the source of many criminal incidents is the aggressive or provocative behavior of victims.

Routine activities theory

The view that the volume and distribution of predatory crime are closely related to the interaction of suitable targets, motivated offenders, and capable guardians. Major premise: Crime rates can be explained by the availability of suitable targets, the absence of capable guardians, and the presence of motivated offenders. Strengths of the theory: It can explain crime rates and trends, it shows how victim behavior can influence criminal opportunity, and it suggests that victimization risk can be reduced by increasing guardianship and/or reducing target vulnerability. Research focus of the theory: Opportunity to commit crime, effect of police and guardians, population shifts, and crime rates.

Victims and self-protection

Taking an active role in community protection and citizen crime control groups. Target hardening efforts. Fighting Back. - Some victims fight back when criminals attack.

• The right to be reasonably protected from the accused. • The right to reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of any public court proceeding, or any parole proceeding, involving the crime or of any release or escape of the accused. • The right not to be excluded from any such police court proceeding, unless the court, after receiving clear and convincing evidence, determines that testimony by the victim would be materially altered if the victim heard other testimony at that proceeding. • To be reasonably heard at any public proceeding in the District Court involving release, please, sentencing, or any parole proceeding. • The reasonable right to confirm with the attorney for the government in the case. • The right to full and timely restitution as provided by law. • The right to proceedings free from unreasonable delay. • The right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the victims dignity and privacy. Source: The Justice for All Act of 2004, 18 U.S.C. § 3771, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/factshts/justforall/fs000311.pdf (accessed April 2016).

The Crime Victims' Rights Act of 2004, 18 U.S.C. § 3771, provides that officers and employees of the Department of Justice shall make their best efforts to see that crime victims are notified of, and accorded, the following rights:

1. Direct influence. 2. Indirect influences. Source: Marger Averdijk and Wim Bernasco, "Testing the Situational Explanation of Victimization Among Adolescents," 'Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency' 52 (2015): 151-180.

There is evidence that the association between offending and personal victimization begin a early in life and that influences can be both what and what?

• Be treated with respect. • Have their entitlement to a real and appropriate role in criminal proceedings recognized. • Have the right to be heard during proceedings and to supply evidence. • Receipt information on: the type of support available; where and how to report an offense; criminal proceedings and their role in them; access to protection and advice; entitlement to compensation; and, if they wish, the outcomes of their complaints, including sentencing and release of the offender. • Have communication safeguards: that is, member states should take measures to minimize communication difficulties in criminal proceedings. • Have access to free legal advice concerning their role in the proceedings and, where appropriate, legal aid. • Receive payment of expenses incurred as a result of participation in criminal proceedings. • Receive reasonable protection, including protection of privacy. • Receive compensation in the course of criminal proceedings. • Receive penal mediation in the course of criminal proceedings where appropriate. • Benefit from various measures to minimize the difficulties faced where victims are residents in another member state, especially when organizing criminal proceedings. Source.: "Council Framework Decision of 15 March 2001 on the Standing of Victims in Criminal Proceedings," http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:082:0001:0004:EN:PDF; "Proposal for a Counsel Directive on Compensation to Crime Victims," http://ec.europa.eu/civiljustice/comp_crime_victim/comp_crime_victim_ec_en.htm.

The European Union member nations have agreed in principle to a set of rules that creates minimum standards for the protection of victims of crime. These guarantee that all victims should...

• Making repairs to a home after a break-in. • Conducting home safety inspections to prevent revictimization. • Accompanying victims to court. • Supplying "victim care kits" or other support. Source: Good Samaritans Program http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/Good_Samaritans/.

The Good Samaritan program in Mobile County, Alabama, provide services such as...

Economic costs

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimates 20 million theft and violence victimizations occur annually in the United States. Taken together, property and productivity losses run in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Victims may suffer losses in earnings and occupational attainment.

• To be notified of proceedings and the status of the defendant. • To be present at criminal justice proceedings. • To make a statement at sentencing and to receive a restitution from a convicted offender. • To be consulted before a case is dismissed or a plea agreement is entered. • To a speedy trial. • To keep the victims contact information confidential. Source: National Center for Victims of Crime, http://www.victimsofcrime.org/

The Victim's Bill of Rights generally include the right...

• Providing legal, housing, and financial advice. • Facilitating access to and use of community resources such as shelters, emergency housing, and psychological interventions. • Providing safety planning advice. Source: National Institute of Justice, "Advocacy Interventions for Women Who Experience Intimate Partner Violence," https:// www.crimesolutions.gov/PracticeDetails.aspx?ID=55 (accessed April 2016).

The core activities of advocacy interventions can vary from program to program and can include what?

Victim precipitation theory

The idea that the victim's behavior was the spark that ignited the subsequent offense, as when the victim abused the offender verbally or physically. Major premise: Victims trigger criminal acts by their provocative behavior. Active precipitation involves fighting words or gestures. Passive precipitation occurs when victims unknowingly threaten their attacker. Strengths of the theory: It explains multiple victimizations. If people precipitate crime, it follows that they will become repeat victims if their behavior persists over time. Research focus of the theory: The victim's role, crime provocation, and the victim-offender relationship

Cycle of violence

The idea that victims of crime, especially childhood abuse, are more likely to commit crimes themselves. Both boys and girls are more likely to engage in violent behavior if they: - Were the target of physical abuse. - Were exposed to violent behavior among the adults they knew. - Lived with or were exposed to weapons

Motivated offenders

The potential offenders in a population. According to rational choice theory, crime rates will vary according to the number of _____ ______. • Teenage boys. • Unemployed • Addict population.

1. Proximity to criminals. 2. Time of exposure to criminals. 3. Target attractiveness. 4. Guardianship.

The routine activities theory and the lifestyle approach both rely on what 4 basic concepts?

1. Live in high crime areas. 2. Go out late at night. 3. Carry valuables such as an expensive watch. 4. Engage in risky behavior such as drinking alcohol. 5. Are without friends or family to watch or help them.

The routine activities theory and the lifestyle approach share what 5 predictions? (People increase their victimization risk if they...)

1. Adolescents and teens, who have the youngest victimization risk, are too young to have been married. 2. Young single people go out in public more often and sometimes interact with high-risk peers, increasing their exposure to victimization. 3. Widows and widowers suffer much lower victimization rates because they are older, interact with older people, and are more likely to stay home at night and to avoid public places.

This association between marital status and victimization is probably influenced by age, gender, and lifestyle. Explain how.

Social exchange view

This view is rooted in psychology and economics. It conceptualizes social behavior as involving a negotiated exchanges of material and nonmaterial goods and services. When a sociodynamic balance in a relationship is upset or perceived to have been upset, the disadvantage party will use violence to restore balance. People who abuse elders perceive themselves as not receiving their fair share from their relationship with the elderly person or other family members, and their resort to violence is an effort to restore or obtain deserved equilibrium.

Victim-offender reconciliation programs

Use mediators to facilitate face-to-face encounters between victims and their attackers. Restitution agreements. Victim Impact Statements: - Victims make an impact statement before the sentencing judge

• The Idaho Crime Victims Compensation Program (ICVC) which has collected restitution since 1998, regularly serves as a mentor to other states interested in building their capacity in this area. ICVC collects payments through its website; the program has implemented a monthly billing system. Offenders with outstanding payments due are notified in order to make a payment. The program is reporting success, particularly in collecting large sums from offenders who were not aware they owed restitution. • The New Jersey Victims of Crime Compensation Office is helping protect the rights of victims by providing funding for legal representation in court, which ensures that victims' rights are respected in situations where the victim might be overwhelmed by unfamiliar legal requirements and procedures. Many states permit victims to hire an attorney to help them file claims, but the New Jersey compensation program provides for assistance in any legal matter related to the victimization associated with the claim. There is $1000 For these services; payment is deducted from the maximum claim benefit. • The 17th Judicial District Crime Victim Compensation Program in Brighton, Colorado, is almost entirely paperless—increasing efficiency while going green. Files are scanned, queued until they are assigned to victim files, and managed from a central storage drive. Staff members send board members case summaries and relevant documents through an encrypted online document management system. In turn, board members use their district-issued tablets to access the software, review claims, and prepare for monthly board meetings. Source: Office for the Victims of Crime, "2013 OVC Report to the Nation," http://www.ovc.gov/pubs/reporttonation2013/voca_cn.html (accesses April 2016).

What are some examples of state victim compensation programs?

1. Gender. 2. Age. 3. Social status. 4. Marital status. 5. Race and ethnicity.

What are some of the factors of victim characteristics?

1. Victim costs. 2. Criminal justice system costs. 3. Crime career costs. 4. Intangible costs. Source: Kathryn McCollister, Michael T. French, and Hai Fang, "The Cost of Crime to Society: New Crime-Specific Estimates for Policy and Program Evaluation," "Drug and Alcohol Dependence 108 (2010): 98-109.

What are the 4 types of costs associated with victimization?

1. Caregiver stress view. 2. Social learning view. 3. Social exchange view. 4. Background-situational view. 5. Power and control view. 6. Ecological model. 7. Biopsychosocial model. Source: Shelley Jackson and Thomas Hafemeister, "Understanding Elder Abuse," National Institute of Justice, 2013, https://www. ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/241731.pdf (accessed April 2016).

What are the 7 perspectives on what causes elder abuse?

1. Vicarious Fear 2. Suffering Stress 3. Posttraumatic stress disorder 4. Adolescent Stress 5. Relationship Stress 6. Fear

What are the individual costs of victimization?

1. Victimization causes social problems. 2. Victimization causes stress and anger. 3. Victimization prompts revenge.

What are the proposed linkages of the association between victimization and crime?

Victimization (by the justice system)

While the crime is still fresh in their minds, victims may find that the police interrogation following the crime is handled callously, with innuendos or insinuations that they were somehow at fault. Victims have difficulty learning what is going on in the case; property is often kept for a long time as evidence and may never be returned. Some rape victims report that the treatment they receive from legal, medical, and mental health services is so destructive that they cannot help but feel "re-raped."

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

an extreme preoccupation with certain thoughts and compulsive performance of certain behaviors.

Intangible costs

indirect losses suffered by crime victims, including pain and suffering, decreased quality of life, and psychological distress.