Chapter 15: Victims of Crime and Victimless Crime

Victim

"[A] person that has suffered direct physical, emotional, or pecuniary harm as a result of the commission of crime...."

Victimless Crime

Behaviors deemed undesirable because they offend community standards rather than directly harm people or property.

Victimology

The study of victims of crime and their role in the criminal justice process.

Legalization

The total removal of legal prohibitions on specific acts that were previously proscribed and punishable by law.

LO5: Give some arguments to support victim-impact statements. Give some criticisms.

The victim-impact statement may prove information that helps the judge to determine restitution, if any. The victim-impact statement is intended to help give cities and co-victims a feeling of participation in the process and emotional release, as well as a sense of resolution and closure. If victims and co-victims can address the offender directly, it may assist with the grieving and healing process. Victim-impact statements can affect an offender's sentencing. One study that looked at victim-impact statements in capital cases found that jurors who heard a victim-impact statement were more likely to support a death sentence because the statements generated positive emotions toward the victim and the victim's family and negative emotions toward the offender. Psychology and behavioral economics experiments have shown that identified victims produce sympathy or empathy, leading to greater efforts to help the victim.

LO2: Discuss three victimization scholars and their typologies.

Mendelsohn developed a typology in the 1950s that is controversial because Mendelsohn believed that most victims had an unconscious attitude that led to their victimization. Von Hentig's 1948 typology considered biological, sociological, and psychological personal factors in victimization. Wolfgang and Sellin presented a typology in 1964 based upon the victims' situations rather than their personal characteristics or relationships.

LO10: Assess some of the social objections to prostitution and pornography.

Often, the act of prostitution is not consensual, and the prostitute is forced by pimps, caregivers, significant others, or organized crime to act against his/her will. Two issues concerning pornography are the most problematic for some people: the first concern comes from those who find pictures or descriptions of nakedness and sexual activity to be immoral; the second comes from those who object to the link between sex and violence in some pornography.

LO4: Analyze the popular concept of victimization by strangers.

People often assume most offenses are committed by people unknown to the victim, but strangers commit fewer than half of most offenses. Strangers are more likely to strike in certain locations or situationsL strangers commit most robberies and violent victimizations in victims' homes. Young adults and urban residents were most likely to be violently victimized by a stranger, as were employed people. Strangers were less likely to injure victims during a violent victimization.

Prostitution

Practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for money.

Community Standards

Practices, acts, and/or media accepted by a given social group who share a geographic area and/or government.

LO9: Tell what sex work is and examine the legal and social controversy concerning it.

Sex work is the exchange of coital or sex-related activities for payment. Sex work constitutes in part crimes of values and in part economic crimes that are committed without the government being able to set standards, regular access, and/or impose taxes.

LO3: Differentiate the idea of victim precipitation from the idea of the innocent victim.

The "innocent victim" concept is at the heart of the stereotype of what attributes a victim should possess. Christie outlined six attributes of the innocent victim: (1) the victim is weak in relation to the offender, (2) the victim is going about his or her own business, (3) the victim is blameless, (4) the victim does not know the stranger who has committed the offense, (5) the offender is unambiguously bad, (6) the victim has the right combination of power, influence, or sympathy to successfully elicit victim status without threatening countervailing vested interests. Victim precipitation is when a crime victim plays an active role in initiating a criminal offense or escalating it. Many crime victims engage in behaviors that put them at risk. When one person kills another, the determination of who is the victim and who is the perpetrator is sometimes a function of which one used deadly violence first. A victim may also engage in passive participation,. Here, the victim is unaware that he or she is provoking the perpetrator's violence. Although passive victims share many characteristics with innocent victims, the difference is that the victimization is not random.

Decriminalization

The emendation of laws or statures to lessen or remove penalties for specific acts subject to criminal prosecution, arrest, and imprisonment.

Victim Precipitation-Theory

The idea that crime victims sometimes play an active role in initiating a crime or escalating it

Victim Precipitation

A situation in which a crime victim plays an active role in initiating a crime or escalating it

Victim-Impact Statement

Account given by the victim, the victim's family, or others affected by the offense that expresses the effects of the offense, including economic losses, the extent of physical or psychological injuries, and major life changes.

LO7: Analyze Abadinsky's definition of drug use.

Abadinsky's definition of drug abuse is, "ingesting a psychoactive substance that is illegal to possess or that is taken in quantities that are clearly harmful." This definition is to completely accepted. For example, some contend moderate marijuana use is not drug abuse, but it would be deemed so by this definition because marijuana is illegal.

LO1: Define victim.

According to the Victims' Rights and Restitution Act, a victim is "a person that has suffered direct physical, emotional, or pecuniary harm as a result of the commission of a crime..." Sometimes the victim is simply the person who came out on the bad end of a harsh encounter.

LO8: Distinguish between the decriminalization and legalization of drugs.

Decriminalization is the emendation of laws or statutes to lessen or remove penalties for specific acts subject to criminal prosecution, arrest, and imprisonment. Decriminalization of drugs would greatly reduce the penalties for drug use, allow the criminal justice system to escape the expense of enforcing stringent drug laws, and allow other institutions to help deter drug use. Legalization is the total removal of legal prohibitions on specific acts that were preciously proscribed and punishable by law. The legalization of drugs would probably be incremental, and some drugs would remain illegal. Legalization may reduce crime and make drugs more difficult for youths to obtain. Respect for the law may be increased with legalization. However, increased drug use would likely result in threats to public safety, loss of productivity, and accidental overdose cases.

LO6: Explain the concept of victimless crime.

Drug use and prostitution are considered by many to be victimless crimes because these offenses have no direct victim. Not everyone agrees with the claim that these behaviors are victimless. However, many people believe that deter ways exist to deal with these problems than making them illegal, arguing that criminalizing these behaviors causes social harm. These issues are matters of values.

Sex Work

Exchange of coital or sex-related activities for payment.