Victimology: what is it and what is its object of study?

“28-year-old woman found dead in her home. Her husband called the police shortly afterward in order to confess to her murder, later shooting himself in the head with a pistol.”

This type of news, unfortunately, is published or broadcast with some frequency by the media before the commission of a crime. When these types of acts occur, the police and justice services act, investigating what happened and taking into account a wide variety of knowledge when determining what could have happened and why it has happened, based on the evidence.

The science that deals with studying crime and its causes, ways to avoid it and how to act with criminals is the criminology. However, there is an essential element that does not appear among the above… Where is the victim? There is a discipline, currently inserted within criminology, which is responsible for its study: victimology.

What is victimology?

Coined by the psychiatrist Fredric Werthham, this term refers to the scientific discipline derived from criminology that studies victims of crime in the various stages of victimization.

The creation of this discipline has allowed both the study and the treatment of victims and relatives of all kinds of crimes, which traditional criminology ignored to focus on the figure of the offender. It is a relatively young scientific discipline, with its scientific beginnings dating back to the 1930s.

This discipline has numerous variants that have been focusing their attention on different aspects and having different interpretations of reality. However, all existing theories and perspectives have in common their objective of study.

It can be said that, in some way, victimology focuses its attention precisely on people who are in a situation of greater vulnerability and that, consequently, they are the first ones that need to study the type of experiences they go through, their sources of discomfort and the possible solutions.

Object of study of victimology

The main object of study of this discipline is the victim and their characteristics., as well as her relationship with the offender and her role in the criminal situation.

Specifically, the set of factors that cause the person to become a victim is analyzed, whether the situation has been provoked by a second person or is due to their own actions or chance (such as an accident at work for example), the relationship of the facts with the law in force and the possible repair of damages and the relationship between the aspects that can cause a person to be a victim and the occurrence of the crime.

What is a victim?

To better understand this object of study, it is necessary to define what is meant by a victim. According to resolution 40/34 of 1985 of the UN General Assembly, it is understood as such the subject / os who have suffered physical damage, psychological or emotional, or an attack and reduction of their fundamental rights as a result of actions or omissions that violate the legislation.

In the same way, their relatives or people who have suffered damages for assisting the victim will also be considered as such.

Thus, it is understood that the damage experienced by victims is not an isolated phenomenon that only affects individuals, rather, the person who suffers from it is inserted into a social fabric through which the discomfort and the deterioration of the quality of life are transmitted. lifetime.

Methodology

As a scientific discipline, victimology has always been situated in an empiricist position, making inductive hypotheses from the observed cases. In this way, it requires surveys and observations of cases and victims in order to develop valid hypotheses that can help explain the victimization processes.

Biopsychosocial elements, relationship with the subject who commits the crime and the crime are fundamental clues in order to elaborate a consistent study of the victim and her situation in the crime. However, this science must take into account both the need for its immediate use and the need to resemble other natural and social sciences.

The techniques used are the observation of reality, the study and analysis of cases and statistics, interviews and techniques from other sciences such as psychology, medicine, history, economics or computer science, among others.

The main mechanism by which victimology can act is through the reporting of a crime, together with the testimony of those affected. Even the absence of these elements is an important source of information, given that the position of the various social groups and individuals regarding the system is reflected.

Types of victims

As a science that studies the victims of criminal offences, many authors have made various classifications of types of victims.

One of them is that of Jimenez de Asua, who divides the victims into:

1. determined victim

It is considered as such one that is voluntarily chosen by the criminalhe, her choice not being a product of chance. An example would be crimes of passion, revenge or crimes carried out by relatives or close friends.

2. indifferent victim

randomly picked. The crime could be committed with any other person without this producing any change in the criminal. An example of this could be fraud or scams, such as shellfish. It is also seen in some criminal acts carried out by psychopaths and serial killers.

3. resistant victim

That victim who is able to present resistance and defend himself, or who is attacked because of or knowing that the subject was going to defend himself.

4. adjuvant victim

Not always that there is a situation in which a subject is the victim of a crime, this is a subject without connection to the criminal act. In this way, there are victims who actively participate in the crime, although it is possible that they act under duress.

Role in protecting the victim

Apart from studying the victim and the process through which she has become such, victimology also plays a prominent role in post-crime action.

Specifically, its field of study allows the creation of services for victims, contributing together with psychologists and other professionals to prepare assistance programs, such as the creation of crisis centers, official protection flats, witness protection programs. Also, the information and support provided to victims are generally the most important services.

On the other hand, efforts are also made to prevent the dynamics of personal relationships that often generate the appearance of victims. In this way, victimology is in contact with many branches of psychology and forensic science.

ethical precaution

As a science that establishes close contact with crime victims, victimology must have special caution in the procedures used when carrying out their activity. It must be taken into account that the victim of a crime, in addition to suffering the crime per se, is subjected to the stress and tension produced by the investigation process. (also reliving the event, often traumatic), and subsequently dealing with the consequences (physical, psychological, social or labor) produced by the crime.

In this sense, victimology must try not to cause, with its application in practice, not to cause secondary and/or tertiary victimization, that is, it must seek to prevent harm to the victim by the mere fact of recounting, repeating or reliving traumatic experiences, both at the institutional level and Social.

Bibliographic references:

• Fattah, E.A. (2000). Victimology: Past, Present and Future. Criminology, vol. 33, 1. p.17-46

• Gulotta, G. (1976). The victim. Milan, Italy. Editor Guiffré

• Jimenez, L. (1961). The so-called victimology. In Criminal Law and Criminology Studies, I. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Bibliographic Omeba

• Langton, L. (2014). Socio-emotional impact of violent crime. Washington: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

• Lauritsen, J.L. (2010). Advances and Challenges in Empirical Studies on Victimization, Journal of Quantitative Criminology 26: 501-508.
• Marquez, A. E. (2011). Victimology as a study. Rediscovery of the victim for criminal proceedings. Prolegomena Magazine. Rights and Values. Bogota. Vol. XIV, 27.

• Marshall, L. AND. & Marshall, W.L. (2011). Empathy and Antisocial Behavior, Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 22, 5: 742-759.

• McDonald, W. (1976). Towards a bicentennial revolution in criminal justice: the return of the victim, The American Criminal Law Review 13: 649-673.

• Neumann, E. (1994). The role of the victim in conventional and non-conventional crimes, 2nd ed: Buenos Aires: Universidad.

• Varona, G.; de la Cuesta, J.L.; Butler, v. and Perez, A.I. (2015) Victimology. An approach through its fundamental concepts as tools of understanding and intervention.