Essay On Victim Blaming Victims

Acts of violence are choices that individuals make. Unfortunately, it is the people who are harmed by violent acts that often receive negative responses from society. Victim blaming is a depreciative act that occurs when the victims of a crime are held responsible for the crimes that have been committed against them. Although a common and widespread occurrence, the act of victim blaming generally goes unnoticed by the public due to scarcity of information. To begin with, there are a number of reasons why people opt to incriminate victims for the crimes that have happened to them. These reasons stem from misconceptions about victims, perpetrators, and the nature of violent acts. Victims are sometimes erroneously portrayed as passive individuals who seek out and submit to the violence they endure. Offenders are perceived as hapless individuals who are compelled to act violently by forces they cannot control. The most popular explanations for blaming victims include belief in a “just world”, attribution error, and the Invulnerability Theory.

The “just world” hypothesis is based on an individual’s belief that the world is a safe, moral place where one reaps what they sow. These individuals believe that the social system that affects them is fair, legitimate, and justifiable. Such vigorous notions in individuals can be challenged when they encounter victims of random misfortune. The perception of these individuals is that good things happen to good people, and bad things to bad people (Breines). If a victim is not harmed in a severe manner, then what happened to them can be discerned as an accident. However, as the severity of harm increases, these individuals begin to recognize their own likelihood for similar events to occur to th...

... middle of paper ...

... one deserves it. Most importantly, the victim blame approach is neither effective in resolving problems of violence, nor in protecting the victim from further victimization, nor in protecting future generations from continuing the cycle of abuse. Therefore, it is important that we shift the focus of our blame from the victim of the crime to the perpetrator, in order to ensure that the offender takes responsibility for the crime that they have committed. One way of assuring that an offender is held accountable for their actions is to have a community response. This can occur through the police, courts, schools, clergy, health care providers, and social service agencies. The justice system and social agencies need to work together in order to promote offender accountability, while at the same time helping victims of violence to recover from what has happened to them.