In recent years, growing concern has been voiced in the environmental justice literature regarding the ability of criminal justice mechanisms to adequately address environmental harms, especially when such harms are perpetrated by large corporations. Commentators argue that criminal justice processes are often ill-suited to the particular features of environmental cases, where the chain of causation between wrongful actions/omissions and environmentally harmful consequence can be very complex and extend over the course of many years. As an alternative, many such commentators now favour the adoption of more administrative resolutions when corporate bodies breach their environmental obligations (which may or may not amount to ‘crimes’). Others favour the use of civil sanction regimes, which is now the preferred approach of the UK Environment Agency. In this paper I will argue that the debate on how best to respond to environmental harm has so far neglected to factor in the perspective of the victims of those harms and, in particular, their need for redress. I will argue that by incorporating such a perspective, as opposed to focusing largely on questions of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, the criminal justice route still has much to recommend it, especially in relation to the provision of meaningful redress and/or compensation to the victims of environmental harm. Consequently, this paper will provide a victimological defence of the criminal justice process, and of criminal penalties, in their application to cases of environmental harms.
Many crime victims choose not to report their victimization to police or other formal authorities. However, understanding the nature of both reported and underreported crime is critical to proper allocation of criminal justice funding and resources. The present paper examines gun ownership as a potentially overlooked predictor of crime reporting, drawing on Black’s theory of self-help as social control. The present study tests whether the self-help orientation of gun owners is associated with a lower likelihood of reporting victimization to police. Data are drawn from the 2000 and 2004/5 waves of the International Crime Victimization Survey (ICVS). Hierarchical linear models are used to assess both individual variation and cross-cultural variation. Findings show that gun owners who own their weapons for reasons other than protection are more likely to report their victimization than non-owners. However, gun owners are less likely than non-owners to report their victimization in highly developed nations. Explanations for these findings and avenues for future research are discussed.
Previous fear of crime studies have rarely considered how fear of crime is learned or the messengers who teach fear of crime to others. This is especially important with children, who often learn about the world from social influences such as parents and teachers. While some work has been done on children’s fear of crime, this work lacks a consideration of the messages parents give children. Further, this research has been restricted to countries such as the US and England. The current research focuses on a country rarely considered in the fear of crime literature – Sweden. In-depth interviews with 14 parents and 10 children are consulted to determine how parents talk to children about safety and what children hear when receiving such messages. Thus, the interplay between parents and their children in the social learning process of safety precautions are considered.
The paper starts by reviewing key studies of victimisation of the elderly and continues by presenting a comparison of some types of victimisation of the elderly in the municipalities of Uppsala (Sweden) and Ljubljana (Slovenia). A randomly chosen sample of women and men over 65 years of age was invited to take part in the survey by receiving a questionnaire by post. The response rate was almost 40% (n = 635) in Ljubljana and almost 71% (n = 1,059) in Uppsala. The results show that the elderly are predominantly victims of property crime in both municipalities. However, the prevalence of victimisation among the elderly over 65 years of age in Ljubljana is higher with respect to harassment, threats, theft and fraud in comparison to Uppsala’s elderly. Even though strangers are the most common offenders in both municipalities, adult children are the second most frequent perpetrators, but only in Ljubljana. The study gives an interesting insight into the similarities/differences between the two municipalities and is also the first study targeting the elderly in Slovenia.
The current study employed the International Crime Victimization Survey for 142,665 subjects in 35 countries to compare residential burglary patterns across countries by their developmental levels. The mixed-level modeling shows that households in less developed countries were more likely to experience residential burglary than those in highly developed countries. In addition, married status and low income levels were positively, while living in a detached house was negatively, related to burglary victimization. These findings are consistent with routine activity theory.
Stalking victimisation has for a long time been ignored and minimised, and it has been traditionally regarded as a rare and mostly ‘celebrity-related’ phenomenon. However, research shows that stalking is far more common, and its impact can be serious and far-reaching. This article reveals and discusses the psycho-social effects of stalking, drawing on the in-depth accounts of twenty-six self-identified victims who were interviewed as part of a study that explored the impact of stalking based on the victims’ voices and experiences. The study found that stalking victimisation is life-changing and its psycho-social effects are complex, long-term and often traumatic. The article concludes by considering the implications of these findings where the need is stressed to improve criminological understanding of stalking and its unseen psycho-social harms so that victims and their cases are properly dealt with by the criminal justice system and society.
The strong and consistent relationship between criminal involvement and victimization is one of the most persistent documented findings within criminological research. However, there is little study on the nature and extent of why this overlap exists with even less research focusing on the perspective of the offenders who identify themselves as victims. The current study analyzes the personal experiences of female offenders at the Greene County Jail, Missouri. Our findings indicate a substantial overlap in lifestyle and risk behavior of female offenders who also identify as victims of crime. Important theoretical and policy implications are discussed.
To hold perpetrators of domestic violence accountable and punish them for their offences has been an important goal in the political rhetoric concerning domestic violence in Sweden. Through new legislation, media campaigns and collaboration projects between the police and the social services, women who have been victims of domestic violence have been urged to report to the police and remain in the criminal investigation process. The purpose of this study is to examine whether social support given at police stations will result in more prosecutions. The study is based on data collected from police investigations and analysed by a multivariate regression method. The results show that strong evidence for prosecution, such as the presence of witnesses and documented injuries, and also the offender’s position on the allegations and whether or not the woman hesitates to participate in the criminal investigation, are the most important factors for a decision to prosecute. Support to the victim from the social services also increases the probability of prosecution, but the impact is smaller and uncertain. It is concluded that this form of support should not be based on the requirement that the woman has made a police report, but rather be given to all victims of domestic violence.
Research elsewhere has suggested that the level of victim engagement with support services is generally low, and that many individuals are at risk of trauma symptomology and associated negative psychological outcomes as a result. The existing literature examining barriers to engagement with victim services is relatively small and largely quantitative, and a detailed qualitative examination of decisions to engage with victim services has yet to be undertaken. To address this gap in the literature, the current study examined the provision of information and referral processes by the police, initial and follow-up contact with support services, and perceived barriers to engagement. Victim evaluations of the services used were also examined. Seventeen semi-structured interviews were conducted with the victims of violent crime during a six-month period in a police force in England and Wales. Participants who engaged with victim services reported experiencing significant benefits as a result of the support they received; however, there was a generally low level of engagement with Victim Support and other services in the sample. Several different factors associated with lack of engagement were identified by the analysis, consistent with the results of previous research. The implications of the study for developing more effective strategies for increasing victim engagement, in ways consistent with current local, national and European policy, are considered.
This article looks at the shift that has taken place in the funding of victim services in England and Wales, following the decision to appoint Police and Crime Commissioners, and give them the responsibility to commission such services at the local level. Over the past 40 years or so the voluntary sector agency Victim Support was ‘the major victims’ agency’ to which the majority of victims who reported crime to the police were referred. Victim Support therefore enjoyed reliable and consistent funding from the state, whilst its more ‘independent peers’ in the form of specialist services, had to contend with often less generous and less stable sources of funding. The shift to local commissioning chimes with the neo-liberal ideology which has permeated Conservative government policy since 1979, and which the Coalition government of 2010, and the Conservative government of 2015, have continued to champion. Thus the economy and the commissioning of victim services are increasingly subject to ‘the market’, as the best way to achieve efficient, effective and economic service provision. An array of government documents have talked about the importance of introducing competition into victim service provision, both as a political goal but also as a way of meeting the challenges that the current era of austerity poses. This paper then explores the potential implications for victim services in devolving funding to elected Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales.
Victim Support in England and Wales emerged in the 1970s and spread throughout the UK. In doing so, it became established as the national victims’ service, offering support for victims of most types of crime. Valued under Conservative governments as an example of community-based support, it became more professionalised and better funded under New Labour. However, in the age of austerity the coalition government sought to restrict growth and adopt greater competition for government grants, and a move towards contracting services locally through Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) has meant a further readjustment of provisions for crime victims, with significant implications for the future of Victim Support. This paper speculates on whether this spells the end of an era for Victim Support, or indeed a case of ‘back to the future’, ending the distinctive generic service that Victim Support has established. This may provide lessons for the future of victim services in other countries where developments came rather later.
Survivor guilt is a construct which is ill defined in the literature. Disparate overlapping and inconsistent formulations are outlined and critiqued from the orientation of reactions of Jewish Holocaust victims. Utilizing the perspective of Defense Mechanism Theory, guilt is explored as an adaptive construct of mastery and survival in extreme conditions. Aspects of culpability in guilt are examined. Brief quotes from survivor narratives are presented to elaborate nuances of guilt experiences. Defensive strategies which coincide with exposure to violence and suffering of others and where there is no overt personal threat experienced by the ‘survivor’ are highlighted. A framework is proposed synthesizing the various motifs, bridging emotions ranging from self-recrimination to traumatic anxiety. The assumptions that survivor guilt is engendered by survival and that it entails feelings of guilt are both challenged.
Notwithstanding that elder abuse has existed since antiquity, it was only during the 1990s that society began to recognize that elder abuse is a pervasive and pernicious problem needing a systematic response. Despite this emerging attention to elder abuse and society’s dedicated efforts to address it, little attention has been given to articulating a theory-based foundation to explain the occurrence of elder maltreatment, which in turn may explain why society’s efforts have had limited success. Using the results of our research as the foundation, we present here distinct models that encapsulate four types of elder maltreatment, including one model that focuses on what transpires when two relatively distinct forms of abuse co-occur. We assert that elder maltreatment should be divided into distinct subtypes reflecting their different etiologies, risk factors, interpersonal dynamics, correlates, and consequences, and which in turn necessitate distinct societal responses. Without recognizing that this abuse occurs in the context of a relationship, understanding of elder abuse and the building of relevant models will be significantly limited. Although the application of these models has not yet been empirically tested, their articulation should enhance the understanding of elder maltreatment and promote new lines of related research and societal responses.
In the USA, civil protection orders, commonly known as restraining orders, have been underutilized as a means of protecting victims of intimate partner violence. It has been proposed that part of the reason for this underutilization is victim apprehension over treatment by the courts. To improve the experience of accessing legal relief, Court Watch programs have been implemented in various jurisdictions across the country. Court Watch programs monitor judicial behavior on several dimensions, including whether interactions with victims are informational, explanatory, participatory, and respectful. Using secondary data obtained from a Florida Court Watch program, this study examines judicial behavior in 500 civil protection order hearings for intimate partner violence. Applying quantitative and qualitative analytic strategies, we examine Court Watch perceptions of judicial behavior, the association between Court Watch perceptions of judicial behavior and civil protection order outcomes, and factors that might account for judicial behavior.
This study investigates factors underlying adoption of safety behaviours among vicarious victims of Boko Haram terrorism in Sabon Gari, a predominantly Christian community in Kano State. Using the Health Belief Model, data were generated from non-indigenes in Sabon Gari. Findings indicated that participants felt susceptible to being direct victims with expressions such as ‘nobody is safe or sure of tomorrow’ because of their identities as Christians and non-indigenes. Loss of lives, destruction of business, weakened bonds, and feelings of imaginary dangers captured perceived severity. Perceived cost of adopting safety behaviours included an outright ban on evangelism, utilization of visitation and isolation. Adopting cues to action, participants avoided crowded places, and relocated family members to reduce collateral damages of anticipated victimization. Implementation of personal (avoidance of vain talks) and institutional preventive measures (purchase of scanners and organization of security training) constituted control measures to prevent victimization. In conclusion, perceived susceptibility facilitated adoption of safe and secure behaviours.
Crime victims are a unique subgroup who evaluate the police and police legitimacy more harshly than those who have not been victimized. This could be explained by their victimization, and their special needs from and expectations of the police. Due to the importance of crime victims for the criminal justice system, the current study examines the mechanisms underlying differences in legitimacy evaluations of victims and non-victims. We focus on the two main antecedents of legitimacy: procedural justice and police performance. We find that procedural justice operates similarly for victims and non-victims, but that police performance plays a much more important role as an antecedent for victims. These findings suggest that managing perceptions of police performance may be key to closing the gap in legitimacy evaluations between victims and non-victims.
Multiple studies have demonstrated that adolescent dating violence is highly prevalent and is associated with internalizing and externalizing problems. A number of prevention initiatives are being implemented in North American high schools. Such initiatives aim to raise awareness among potential victims and offenders, and also among peer bystanders. As teenagers mainly reach out to their peers when experiencing adversity, it is important to address adolescents’ efficacy in dealing with witnessing dating violence or with friends disclosing dating abuse, in addition to increasing their ability to deal with experienced dating violence victimization or perpetration. The aim of this study is to explore adolescents’ self-efficacy to deal with dating violence victimization and perpetration in their relationships and those of their peers. A paper-and-pencil questionnaire was completed by 259 14-18-year-olds in Quebec, Canada. The data allow building insight into adolescents’ confidence to reach out for help or to help others in a situation of dating violence victimization and perpetration. We also considered the impact of gender and dating victimization history. Results suggest that dating violence prevention can build on teens’ self-efficacy to deal with dating violence and offer them tools to do so efficiently.
Criminologists have indicated that gender is one of the strongest predictors of fear of crime. The leading explanation for gender differences in fear of crime levels is the shadow of sexual assault hypothesis, claiming that women’s fear of sexual assault is one of the most salient factors influencing their fear of other crimes. Using a sample of 1,051 university students, this study examines the predictors of fear of crime in Sweden by testing the shadow of sexual assault hypothesis. Like the work of Ferraro, the current study suggests that the fear of sexual assault shadows the fear of other offenses, especially crimes that involve face-to-face contact between victims and offenders. Across all models, perceived risk is a consistent predictor of fear of crime among university students.
While many have investigated media constructions of ‘newsworthy’ and ‘non-newsworthy’ crimes and their victims, the overwhelming focus of these analyses has been upon violent crime in its myriad forms. In contrast, this article examines the Canadian print media’s peculiar construction of crime, criminals, and victims in the world of art fraud from 1978 to 2012. Just as art fraud is not thought of as normal ‘crime news’ and is bracketed away elsewhere, the victims of art fraud tend not to be regarded as ideal victims. We note that allegations of art fraud in Australia and elsewhere have occasionally provided a catalytic environment for discussions of ‘who is an "Aboriginal artist"?’, ‘what is "Aboriginal art"?’, and ‘who owns Native culture?’ However, the Canadian print media’s response to allegations of fraud in relation to the art and artistry of Canada’s indigenous peoples suggests how contemplation of these questions can be forestalled.
Secondary victimization occurs when victims of crime feel they have been subjected to inadequate, insensitive or inappropriate treatment, attitudes, behaviour, responses and/or practices by criminal justice and social agencies, which compound their original trauma. In order to investigate how an under-researched group of victims of crime may be subjected to secondary victimization by the criminal justice system (CJS), which in this research refers to the police, the Coroner’s Service and the legal (or court) system, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 women who had been bereaved by homicide. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) identified instances of multiple secondary victimization from all systems considered. Recommendations for how to reduce the secondary victimization of ‘co-victims’ of homicide are made, including: improving communication and promoting understanding between co-victims and the CJS; statutory rights for co-victims; and participatory rights in the legal process, such as access to victims’ lawyers or auxiliary prosecutors.
This article examines secondary victimization and how the criminal justice system affects victims’ psychological recovery from the crime. Victim recovery was measured using the Modified Post-traumatic Stress Symptom Scale (MPSSS). This study is prospective, following victims as their cases passed through the criminal justice system. How authorities treated victims was measured in terms of victims’ procedural justice judgements. Using a general linear model with repeated measures, unfair procedures were found to impact victims’ recovery. The article closes with a discussion of the findings and their implications.
This review consolidates the research on perceptions of risk and its antecedents to improve our understanding of the factors that influence perceptions of risk. The evidence is evaluated against the available models, theories and explanations. Online databases, relevant journals and books were searched using keywords resulting in a total of 30 papers being included in this review. It was found that the literature provided support for previous victimization, experienced both directly and vicariously, gender, race, income, perceptions of crime rates and incivilities, having a consistent effect on perceptions of risk of criminal victimization. Perceived risk was shown to have a strong influence on fear of crime, and the relationship was also found by one study to be reciprocal (Rader et al., 2007). The risk interpretation model (Ferraro, 1995) was supported by the literature but is still in need of continuing development in light of new research. The findings could be used to help reduce risk perception to a level more in line with actual risk and thus reduce fear of crime and in turn increase quality of life.
Existing models of forgiveness do not easily accommodate victims of crime. Therefore, this article presents an examination of the meaning of forgiveness from the perspective of crime victims. A grounded theory approach was adopted to analyse the data from a series of semi-structured interviews carried out with victims of serious violent offences. Results indicated that victims generally thought forgiveness was both positive and beneficial. Whereas major models of forgiveness emphasize the interpersonal nature of forgiveness, victims of crime conceived of the construct as strongly intrapersonal. Forgiveness was comprised of four parts: self-awareness, letting go, perspective-taking and moving on. Each of these aspects was examined in light of the data and contrasted with existing literature. This study establishes a new area of forgiveness research and provides further insight into the psychological experience of victims of crime.