CRIM 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Victim Blaming, Victimology, Rape Myth
24 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Chapter 5:
Key Takeaways
• Victimology is a relatively new discipline that studies victims
o Main date source GSS
• Victims can be categorized into different types according to their proximity to the criminal event
(primary, secondary, tertiary, direct/actual, indirect/vicarious)
• There are risk factors that increase the likelihood of individuals becoming victims of crime.
• The recovery of victims from a crime event depends on personal and community/social protective
factors
o Resilience
§ Protective mechanisms
• Community & social support: friends, family & neighbours
• Personal: coping & social skills
• Strobl’s self and other victim classification:
Others regard individuals
as victim
Others do not regard
individual as victim
Individual regards
himself/herself as victim
Actual victim
Rejected victim
Individual does not regard
himself/herself as victim
Designated victim
Non-victim
• Risk factors: age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, immigrations status
Key Concepts
• Victimology – the study of victims
• Primary, secondary, tertiary victims:
o Primary: a person who is directly harmed as a result of a victimizing experience
o Secondary: a person who is not directly impacted by the harmful effects of a victimizing
event, but may witness the event or have to deal with the after-effects of a victimizing
event, such as supporting a victim in recovery
o Tertiary: a person who may suffer repercussions of victimization even though they are
not directly involved in or witness to the harmful event.
• Direct/actual victims – a person who is present at the time of victimization and experiences harm
• Indirect/vicarious victims – a person who is not immediately affected by victimization, but
nonetheless suffers in some way as a result of it.
• Perceptions of victimization -
• Victim precipitation – the problematic assumption that victims can somehow influence or bring
about their own victimization by exhibiting behaviours that provoke a victimizer
• Victim blaming – a process whereby a victim is found at fault for his or her own victimization, in
whole or in part
• Rape myth – stories that reflect belief systems that reveal incorrect assumptions about the causes
of sexual assault
• Resilience – the ability to successfully recover from trauma
• Protective mechanisms – those characteristics or resources that victims have access to that help in
the victimization/trauma recovery process.
