SOCI2663 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: International Criminal Court, Malum Prohibitum, Victimology
What is Victimology? 13:53
What is Victimology? (Chap. 1) Sept. 12
-Scientific study of victims
-“Scientific study of physical, emotional, and financial harm people suffer because of illegal
activities” Andrew Carmen
-Covers victims of human rights violations, including victims of conventional crimes (Elias)
-Different parameters: cries, accident, disaster, abuse of power (Knudten)
-Definition from author of our textbook: “someone who is harmed by another”
-People can become victims by being physically, financially, or emotionally harmed
-Does not include animals; although they can be victims, they cannot communicate their
experiences as effectively
Debate on the scope of Victimology
Study of: victims of crime, victims of human rights, and victims of everything (Garkawe)
Historical view of victims
Modern criminal justice system
System of laws applied to all people
Before formalized system dealing with offenders, people were dealing with informal rules
Mala in se offences that are in and of themselves wrong or said to go against nature (wrong
or evil)
Justice or retribution: responsibility of the victim, friend, family
oExample of the Dobe !Kung Box 1.1 (textbook)
Victim centered
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
oPunishments guided by principle of deterrence which aims to exact justice and to
dissuade the offender from doing harm again, form of prevention
oPunishment was strong
Served as a preventive measure for others
Move from small to communities to large changes how we focus events that are harming
people
Move from feudal to a more formalized justice system
Introduction of common laws
Serious crimes moved from mali in se to mala prohibita
Acts against the law
Current criminal justice considers the victim as witness
Crime is again the state (crown)
Definition of victim in history
Term used to refer to living creature killed and offered as a sacrifice to a deity or
supernatural power (1497)
A person who is hurts, tortured or killed by another (1660-90)
Term used to describe a person who was oppressed or taken advantage or by some power or
situation (1718)
Any living animal who experiences injury, loss, or hardship (1830)
Today victim means:
A person killed, injured, or harmed by another
A live animal offered in religious sacrifice
A person who is made to suffer from an act, situation, condition, or circumstance
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
A person who suffers from harm as a result of voluntary undertaking
A person who is taken advantage of
Legal definition of victim
Criminal Code of Canada (CCC)
Any victim of an alleged offence
Any person subjected to the act of an alleged offender who has presumably violated the law
as dictated by the CCC
To be an offender is has to be officially recognized by the court that the person is guilty of an
offence
If in court there is a guilty person proven not guilty, is there still a victim?
oYes, just not recognized if there is no one proven guilty
Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA)
-An individual who has suffered physical or emotional harm, property damage, or economic loss,
as a result of the commission of an offence
Public order crimes
Why are public crimes so controversial?
Why are these so called “victimless crimes” perhaps mislabelled as such?
oEven with no clean victim, primary and secondary victims can be affected by crime
Are morally based
Do involved the traditional roles of clear cut perpetrator who is intending to bring harm to a
victim and an unwilling victim
Not a lot of consensus in our society about whether or not these behaviours should be crimes
or what the punishments for these acts should be
Is a drug dealer a victim of addiction or perpetrator?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Scientific study of physical, emotional, and financial harm people suffer because of illegal activities andrew carmen. Covers victims of human rights violations, including victims of conventional crimes (elias) Different parameters: cries, accident, disaster, abuse of power (knudten) Definition from author of our textbook: someone who is harmed by another . People can become victims by being physically, financially, or emotionally harmed. Does not include animals; although they can be victims, they cannot communicate their experiences as effectively. Study of: victims of crime, victims of human rights, and victims of everything (garkawe) System of laws applied to all people. Before formalized system dealing with offenders, people were dealing with informal rules. Mala in se offences that are in and of themselves wrong or said to go against nature (wrong or evil) Justice or retribution: responsibility of the victim, friend, family: example of the dobe !kung box 1. 1 (textbook)
